Origins of the pinky swear
by anniewanny2
Summary: A story about how it may have been if Inuyasha and Kagome met as kids in the feudal era, Inuyasha is a boy that has been alone since the dead of his mother, Kagome is a banished girl feared by the villagers
1. End of my world

**Origins of the pinky swear**

**End of my world.  
**

I will always remember that night, the night my life was turned upside down. It's cruel how much your life can change in a mere second.

That's all it was, one moment she was breathing the next she wasn't. One moment I had hope, a mother, the next I felt so much sadness no one should be allowed to feel ... I was alone.

She died peacefully, painless, she had been sick some time, but no matter how bad her condition had apparently had been she never showed any kind of illness, at least not that I noticed, until one day she just collapsed and never got up again. She died in her sleep, with a familiar smile on her face, I knew that smile all too well. It was there on her face whenever she told me stories about my father, the man she loved so desperately.

At least that was a comforting thought, she had found happiness at last, she was free from all the sorrow and pain the living felt. But still that didn't change anything, nothing at all, it still left me all alone, I never felt so hollow I never realized how great a deal of my heart she possessed, how great a part she had taken with her. I clutched my hand at it, a feeble attempt to hold the few remaining pieces in place. I never cried so much in my life, I've heard stories about pain and sadness can become so great that you actually felt it physically, I never believed it.

Until now that is. Before she died, she made a final request to the people of the village, she pleaded that they'd take care of me, to take me in until I was old enough to live on my own. She had faith in them that they'd at least had enough kindness in them to not leave her ten year old son all alone in the world. The bastards didn't even respect her that much, as soon as her body was buried and the ceremony was over, they casted me away.

At first I refused to leave her grave ... the bastards didn't even give me that much. They punched and kicked me, they tore me away from her resting place. That is when I started running, they threw insults and stones at me until I was out of their reach, but that wasn't enough for me to stop running. I didn't care about anything else but to run, it felt good actually it felt as if I left all the pain and sadness behind me, they were there I could feel them but it was as if they were just too slow to catch up to work their evil powers of torture to their full extent. So I just kept running and running, through the forest over the fields across the river, for two moons. Until I couldn't run anymore, out of exhaustion I crashed down in a grass field.

It was early in the morning, the sun was peeping over the horizon. Moments later, the pain finally caught up and crushed me, I don't know how long I lay there face down in the muddy grass sobbing, weeping until I had no more tears, memories came crashing to me, memories I wanted to forget. I felt so lost, I had no purpose anymore, I doubted that I even had one to begin with. I'm a hanyo, a freak of nature I shouldn't even exist.

I remember everything about her, her scent, her tears, her smile, her love. I turned on my back and just watched the sky it was lighter now, the sun was trying to blind me so I shut it out. I lifted my hand to block it's rays, when I saw something glittering on my finger, I brought it closer to my face to see what it was, a single drop of dew hung on my pinky, slightly reflecting the rays of the sun. To me it was more than a mere drop of dew, it was a memory, one that I wanted to forget, but nothing seemed to be able to block out the images that came flooding in front of my eyes.

* * *

The last memory I had of her, our last conversation. She was lying down, her white delicate skin was even paler then it had been, her eyes carried think rims under them, she was too weak to even lift her head up, still she found enough strenght to pad my head in that loving way she always did.

"Mommy?" I squeaked.

"my boy, Inuyasha, listen to me" I nodded and scooted closer to her and held her cold hand to my face, "be proud of what you are my son, you have nothing to be ashamed for" she started crying then "you have to promise me something ... promise me that you'll stay alive ... no matter what happens to me you'll live" she was out of breath the entire time she was speaking, why was she so weak? It scared me to no ends.

"mommy, please don't go don't leave me behind" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry my son, I'm human ... my time is up ... please Inuyasha promise me"

"I promise, mommy I love you mommy" I kissed her hand that I kept against my cheek.

"I love you too my beautiful, brave little man and I'll promise you something in return ... I will always be right here in your heart" she tried to pull her hand to where my heart was, but the feeble force behind it was heartbreaking.

"you promise ? " I managed to squeak out.

"yes my darling I promise ... live well my son ... know that I love you so much ... I always will" I wept the tears away that were streaming down her face and stared at the little water orbs that trailed down my hand, to the little drop on my pink.

I kissed her tear away, hoping that maybe this little part of her would remain with me.

* * *

"you lied mommy, you're not here, there's nothing, left here" I sobbed, I remembered, the way the villagers ignored her final wishes and turned their backs at me, I would not disrespect her that way.

I kissed my pink again, "I promise mommy, if that is your wish, I'll stay alive as long as I can, I swear it"

With that I fell asleep in the middle of the grass, I knew I would be plagued with dreams of her leaving me, I didn't care. If I wanted to survive I had to regain my strength. I would do anything for her, even if she did not held her end of the promise, I would never break this promise to her.

* * *

an: alright, first Inuyasha story ever!!

I know the first chapter was kinda dark ... alright very gloomy

I hope you liked it and if not that's fine too

bye Annie


	2. Weak human

**Origins of the pinky swear**

Three years later**  
**

Keeping myself alive was proving more difficult than I thought possible, well I should have known better, the world holds no sympathy for beings like me. Those first nights I just slept in the open or in a tree, but apparently that was a bad idea. At night the demons came out and a little hanyou like me was the perfect meal. Of course I was stronger and faster than a human and if it came down to it I could hold my own against a weak demon.

But that rarely happened, first demons could sense aura's and thereby compare their strength with mine so there was no way a weak demon would attack me no matter how stupid some of them were and even if they did weaker demons always hunt in packs. So staying hidden at nightfall was the best option, I sought my shelter in little caves or holes I dug for myself between the roots of trees, also I realized that I couldn't stay in one place for a long time. I made a habit of staying somewhere for three or four days before I moved on.

The longer I spend time in the same area, the stronger my scent grew and demons became curious if they smelled something like me, it's not every day you come across a half demon. Of course this was just a safety precaution, but I'm better safe than sorry. Right now I found shelter in a cave behind a waterfall, which meant I could stay there a little while longer than usual because the water masked my scent for a great deal.

I was out hunting, I had sniffed out a couple of rabbits and was now chasing them in the forest, after a while I caught them and ate them raw. At first I was a bit disgusted by this way of feeding, but once I surrendered to my youkai instincts it felt better, it also helped me escape the pain I still felt in my heart. Youkai didn't have feelings, so they didn't have to deal with sadness and loneliness. Yeah I was lonely, my youkai side was perfectly at ease with my new way of living, but my human side craved for human contact ... a friend.

Which was stupid, I know all too well humans and half-breeds can't be friends, in the past in a moment of weakness I went into a village to steal some food. Maybe I thought that they'd feel a little compassion for a child wandering alone in the world, yeah as if. As soon as I set one foot in the village the women and children started to scream, while their husbands and fathers grabbed for their pitchforks.

Stupid weak humans, I should have taken them all out, yeah I could do that I was strong enough to defeat several humans, I had thought about it you know to just kill them all. But I couldn't the moment the idea crossed my mind I looked into the eye of a woman protectively shielding her child behind her back. It reminded me of her, my mom, she wouldn't want me to hurt those people, I know that much, so I ran for it.

I avoided humans since then, I despised them, they were weak beings. I longed to be a full demon, I would be strong and unafraid, I wouldn't have to deal with loneliness and the pain in my chest. Everyone would fear me respect me, no one would ever push me around ever again, nothing could hurt me again.

Yeah as if that would happen, I washed the rabbit-blood from my hands and my face in the river and climbed back in the cave. It was somewhere in the spring so it wasn't too cold out, I've very nearly froze to death in the winter, for the simple reason that I did not know how to make a fire. That was also the reason why I ate my prey raw, I've tried but failed every time. Normally a father would learn a son such things as hunt, make a fire, make a camp, I always wondered what it would be like to have a father, if maybe my mother would have lived longer if he was with her.

I knew I had a brother somewhere out there, my mom told me about him, Sesshomaru, but he was a full demon and so he wouldn't care for a half breed such as myself. I closed my eyes and dozed off, hoping that at least for one night, I could have a nightmare free sleep, but I knew that was far from impossible.

The next day I was out hunting again, it was past midday and I was fishing in the river, I had actually fun trying to teach myself how to fish in the beginning. I would chase the fish around until either him or I was too tired to anymore, usually it was me who gave up first. Now I had pretty much gotten the hang of it, I had caught two fishes already, but they were small so I decided to catch another one, I was waiting in the water standing as still as I could until one of them came too close. With one quick sweep I flung it out of the water.

"ah stupid fish" I laughed, clubbed the fish on the head so it would be out of its suffering and ate them whole. I started to return to my cave to rest a bit, I didn't sleep too well last night, not because of the nightmares, well yeah that had something to do with it. But also because this place has one too much demons running around at night, they were attracted to the river, I had to remind that for later, stay away from the river.

Stupid I should have known, guess I can't stay here for much longer still I decided that I would stay here for at least one night, the demons didn't know I was there, so I didn't have much to fear. It was slowly getting dark already, suddenly I hear a loud growl coming up ahead. I hid inside the trees to see what all the commotion was about.

There were two lizard demons sniffing around my cave, they were weak demons, I've taken their kind out before, they were very curious demons with a taste for human flesh, only pathetic beings like humans were weak enough to be their prey. The ones I had killed in the past actually had me confused with a human, stupid youkai, they defiantly deserved what was coming for them.

"hey! What do you think you are doing?" I yelled at them, I wanted a little excitement plus I could use this opportunity to work on my fighting skills.

"look another one, you keep searching I'll take this one" hell no they thought I was human too? Damn I should have known though, I don't exactly look like a human and they can't smell as well as I can, but still the dog ears on my head should've been a giveaway.

"bring it on" I flexed my claws a bit and bared my fang. The foolish demon came at me head on, I jumped up and with one clean sweep I cut it's head off. "well that wasn't much of a fight, you wanna try?" I turned around and faced the other demon who was sniffing out my cave.

"filthy creature how dare you!!" this one was a little bit smarter than the other one, it kept its distance and started to circle me searching for an opening. It came at me but changed tactics, he swept its tail at me, having the element of surprise it knocked me off my feet and I landed on my back. The demon was going in for the kill, but it seemed to forget I was not human, I let him bite my arm, knowing that the robe of the fire rat would protect me from its fangs, besides now he was close enough for me to finish.

I slit it's throat, with a final cry of agony it fell death on top of me, covering me with filthy demon blood.

"get off of me!" I pushed to bleeding carcass of my body and plunged myself in the river once again, once most of the blood was cleaned off I entered my cave and realized what they were searching for. Stupid human, in the corner of the cave sat a little human girl trembling with fear and exhaustion.

"are they gone?" she wept, ah crap, as if my night couldn't get any worse.

"what the hell are you doing here?" I snapped.

"I'm sorry … the demons were chasing me I just sought a place to hide I didn't know it belonged to you" she cried some more.

"well it does" I looked outside, damn the sun has set already and with the amount of demon blood splattered near the hiding place every demon who has any sense of smell would be all over the place. I peeked out and already saw smaller demons eating quickly before the bigger ones came. Crap, she can't leave this place, not until morning at least, not that I care what happens to her, it's just that they'd follow her scent right back at me, damn I knew I should have found another place for tonight.

"thank you for saving me" the girl came closer to me, isn't she afraid, I slaughtered two demons right in front of her.

"I didn't do it for you, they were in my way"

"still, thank you, what's your name?" she smiled at me, weird little girl, doesn't she know not to trust strangers?

"you have no need for that kind of information, just sit as far away from me as you can don't talk to me and as soon as the sun's up, get the hell out of here!" I yelled at her.

"you're mean" she stated, she threw me an angry look, "why don't you just kick me out now?"

"do you want to go outside? Thanks to you every demon in a 5 mile radius will be all over this place" I sat down on the opposite side that she was sitting and tried to stare her down. Because of the little light the full moon allowed inside I couldn't quite see what she looked like, I could tell she had dark long hair and dark angry eyes that stared right back at me, I smirked, she isn't afraid of me ... interesting.

Don't get any ideas Inuyasha, she's just 'friendly' until she doesn't need you anymore, I'll bet as soon as dawn breaks she'll start calling me names and run as far away from me as she can, or something along those lines, they always do.

"why are you so angry at me anyway, I haven't done anything wrong and I thanked you" she looked the other way, why does she continue to talk?

"will you just shut up, stupid little human" this girl's working on my last nerves.

"no, stupid little demon" she barked right back.

"I swear I'll kick your little ass right out of here if you don't shut it, maybe the monsters outside have more patience with you" as on cue one of the bigger demons arrived and release a load roar, I knew it didn't mean anything menacing, just a warning, _get out let me eat and I won't harm you_. But the little girl didn't get that message, she trembled in fear and started sobbing again, she clamped her hands over her ears in a feeble attempt to shut the sounds out.

"will yah stop it with the tears already? It's annoying as hell" I never did like seeing women cry, it brought back too much painfull memories.

"hey I keep my mouth shut only fair that you do too" she demanded, that was it, the little thing thinks she can throw orders at me? I'll show her.

"that's it you pathetic human" I walked up to her and flexed my claws trying to scare her, it didn't have that effect on her, she got up and faced me head on.

"what are you gonna do huh? Kill me? eat me? go ahead I'm not scared of you" I don't know why but I found the sight of her rather amusing, her head was barely sticking above my shoulder, she was just this little human girl, she wasn't even afraid of me, I smirked at this "what are you laughing at jerk?" she yelled again.

"you're not scared of me are you" I got closer to her, so she had to back away a bit, she was startled at first at our close proximity but quickly got over it, she pushed my chest, trying to put more distance between us.

"why should I? you're not half as scary as you think you are you know, I don't get scared that easily" again a loud roar was heard outside, seems like someone else didn't get the message either. She clamped her hands over her ears trying to block the sound out again and whimpered a bit.

"not scared huh?" I mocked her.

"of you? No?" I had to give it to the girl she's a brave one.

"don't worry so much, as soon as the carcasses are devoured they'll leave" I sat down again, leaning my back against a large boulder. She sat down close beside me.

"what did I say, get away from me !" I pushed her back a bit.

"you're hurt" she whispered, she pointed to my ear, she reached over to it I hissed when she touched the bump, I must have hit a rock or something when that thing tripped me.

"why are you touching me?" I snapped and flinched away when she reached again to my ear.

"sorry I just wanted to help"

"I don't need your help" I snapped again, hypocrite human.

"oh, alright" she moved a bit away from me.

"now go sit over there and for the love of god shut up" in fact I wasn't even half as annoyed as I sounded, I enjoyed the company actually, I just knew that when a human showed kindness to me I had to be on my toes, it's just unnatural.

"please, could I just sit here next to you, I promise I won't say a word, you won't even know I'm here" she was scared of those monsters outside, damn I want to say yes, I really do I remember the times I ran for my life and wished for someone stronger to protect me. But there is one crucial difference here, she's human, she belongs in a village, she's not alone.

I don't feel a single shred of pity for her. The world is a cruel place, the weak die, the strong survive. Being scared doesn't help you anywhere. This girl probably ran away from home in some silly argument, thinking she'd be better off on her own, she probably has a father and mother maybe a sister or brother that are worried sick about her. A healthy dose of fear should be good for her, it'd learn her to appreciate the things she has in life.

"listen I don't care about any of that, just stay away from me, in the morning go back where ever it is you came from, because you won't survive out here on your own" she just stared at me and said nothing, then after a while she scooted away from me, not as far as I would have wanted but still it's better than nothing, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

I couldn't sleep that night, how could I? Enemies everywhere. She wasn't really sleeping either, I could hear it from the ritme of her heartbeat and her steady breathing that she was awake. She laid with her face away from me staring into the nothingness of the cave, I didn't hear her whimper or sob, but I knew she was crying from the smell of salt her tears left behind.

It made me feel a little guilty though. When the first rays of sunlight came over the horizon she got up and walked past me, she didn't make eye contact with me. she had set about five steps outside and turned back at me, she had brown eyes, filled with sadness beyond compare, her little smile just seemed to amplify to the amount of sadness that housed in the little girl.

"my name is Kagome, you don't have to tell me yours since we're not friends, but still I'm glad I met you" she turned and walked away, her eyes where puffy because of all her crying, her hair was the darkest shade of black you could imagine but when the sunlight touched it, it gave of a dark blue color. From her clothes I could see she'd have to be the daughter of a peasant or something.

Don't follow her, don't follow her, ah crap. As soon as she disappeared in the forest I trailed behind her. Keeping my distance and hiding myself in the trees, I watched her wiping away furiously the tears that were streaming across her face, while whispering something to herself.

"I can do this, I can do this" she stopped for a moment when she reached the end of the trees and just watched the houses of the village, then she looked back as if suspecting someone to follow her, strange girl. She sighed and walked on at a deadly slow pace, I watched her stop in front a few gravestones for a moment then she disappeared inside the village.

She's gone, I watched from the tree top for a couple of moments before going off on my own wondering how it would be like to have a family, I forgot what it felt like. Suddenly I felt the loneliness again, I didn't realize it wasn't there haunting me a few moments ago as if that girl, Kagome, had to power to drive it off.

Better this way, it's though enough surviving on my own I don't need some girl holding me back. I was lost in my own thoughts, thinking about the girl smirking when I remembered the ferocious look in her eyes as if she'd eat me if she could, sure she annoyed the hell out of me, but still …

I heard a scream sounding clearly from the village, I saw a few men chasing someone.

what the hell is going on ?!


	3. Inuyasha

**Inuyasha.**

I heard a scream sounding clearly from the village, I saw a few men chasing someone. Crap! I cursed. I ran over to the spot where they chased her into the forest. I saw her hiding in a bush not too far from the five men who were looking for her.

"damn little witch got away again"

"what did she think by coming back here again?"

"yeah did she really expect us to let someone like her live with us"

"come on, if we don't get her the demons will, she'll never survive out here on her own"

I watched those cowards leave, a sudden pang of guilt hit me, I don't believe I'm going to do this. I landed behind the bush she was still trembling under.

"hey, come out they're gone" she yelped a bit, and turned to me, she smiled for some reason when she saw me. Her face and arms were covered with little bruises and blood, damn I knew those wounds all too well I got them too every time I fled from a village. I sighed, I knew I was going to regret this, but I'll probably regret it even more if I just leave her on her own.

"come on, let's wash those wounds out shall we" I held my hand out for her.

"sure" she squeaked and grabbed my hand.

I helped her up and guided her to the river, we remained quiet the whole time, she had several cuts on her face that were bleeding hard, it probably isn't nearly as bad as it looks but still humans are weak creatures and wounds get infected really fast. I walked ahead, she followed me from a distance.

I quickly threw a glance at her to see if she was still following me, I don't know when I started to care but there is something about that girl. I don't really know what it is but I don't like the thought of her all alone and afraid, neither do I like the thought of her leaving me. Stupid Inuyasha, do you really think you can be friends with this girl? She's the enemy, a human, humans are evil.

She kept staring down, every few seconds a droplet of blood fell from her chin to the ground. She wasn't crying anymore, that was a good thing at least, I waited until she caught up before I walked beside her. Normally her slow pace would have annoyed the hell out of me, but right now it didn't bother me. I tried to get a look at her eyes but she hid them under need her bangs of thick black hair.

I guided her to the little stream. "sit down" I demanded, it sounded harsher then I meant to, I didn't want to upset her more, but I was angry, not at her but at the men who did this. She didn't seem to care about the weither the anger in my voice was directed at her or not, she followed my order and sat down on a flat rock that stuck out over the water.

I pulled my arm in my sleeve and drenched it in the water, I walked over to her and lifted her head so I could reach the wound. When I saw the look in her eyes I forgot whatever it was I was thinking about, I even forgot about the anger I felt toward the men, the confusion to why I felt compassion to this girl, I forgot it all. The pain in her eyes was the only thing on my mind.

It was a pain that very few knew of, let alone understand. Her eyes held nothing, no hope, no happiness, not even sadness anymore. She was broken, alone, her pain was her only companion. Suddenly I understood. She lost everything, she was alone, she belonged nowhere, she is exactly like me.

I swept the bangs out of her eyes and cleaned the blood of her face with the sleeve of my robe. She was like me an outsider, banned from the world, hated by everyone. I didn't think I would come across someone who understands the degree of pain I had to deal with all these years, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It felt like my duty to at least save the girl from the lonely fate she had to suffer as an outcast, to save her from the loneliness I felt everyday and with it maybe save myself.

I sighed, to think I would help a human.

"Kagome?" she looked at me, surprised I remembered her name. "if you don't slow me down, I'll let you stay with me, alright?" I didn't want to sound to sappy or anything, I still had my pride. Her eyes started to water up, oh crap did I say anything wrong? She nodded fiercely.

"thank you" she whispered, she hissed a bit when I pressed the cut maybe a little too hard, she shot me an angry look, I grinned.

"Inuyasha" she looked strangely at me.

"what did you call me?"

"I didn't call you anything, it's my name, Inuyasha" I was a little pissed that she thought my name was an insult, but I let it go.

"oh …" she hissed again when I pressed another cut next to her eye, payback. I grinned a bit at her.

"will you stop that?!" she tried to push my hand away, honestly how do humans survive anyway, they are too weak.

"no, you big baby, just suck it up I'm almost done" she huffed and crossed her arms, oh yeah I'm going to have fun getting her angry. The look on her face is priceless, like a little kitten trying to be a tiger.

"alright all done"


	4. Fishing

**Fishing**

Kagome was with me for one week now and in some ways my life got a whole lot easier with her around in other it got a lot more difficult. I was glad she was by my side because, she could make a fire and that meant no more eating raw meat, she made the loneliness disappear I could truly laugh again, the reason for that is that I enjoy annoying her, her reactions are so hilarious. The down side, I had to hunt twice as much seeing that she was more or less useless in that department, we had to hide ourselves more carefully because there were demons who had a taste for human flesh and she enjoyed annoying me just as much as I did annoying her.

"Hey that is my fish"

"I don't think so wench, I caught it that makes it mine"

"come on, here we go again"

"it's true, if it weren't for me you would be starving, so as a thanks give me the large one"

"Do I have to hear this every time we eat, thank you oh great Inuyasha for providing me with such little guppies, please take my prove of appreciation and eat the larger one"

"drop the sarcasm will yah"

"shut up and eat your stupid fish, I'll go and catch my own, I've seen you do it before it isn't so hard" she walked off to the river. Yeah right, I didn't pay any attention to her and ate the fish, after a few minutes I followed after her, this should be good.

I hid myself in a tree not too far from where she was standing, but not too close I don't want her to see me spying on her. I could not contain my laughter as I watched her splash around in the river, chasing after a fish. It was more like the fish was playing with her, I nearly fell out of the tree when she fell with a big splash on her ass in the middle of the stream.

But I quickly clamped my hands over my mount when I saw her walking towards my, her face red with anger. She stood under the tree I was in and I was sure she knew I was in there, but she simple broke of a branch and walked back to the river determent to somehow catch a fish.

What was she doing? She was hitting the piece of wood with a stone or so it seemed, weird humans. After she was done she returned to her spot with the branch clutched in her hands she stood as still as she could. Then with lightning speed she stabbed the spear into the water. She missed, I heard her swear at the fish, but she tried again, and again and again and again until finally she caught a fish. It wasn't a big one, in fact it was half the size of the fish I caught, but she was so pleased with herself.

She returned to our camping ground after cleaning the fish, when she returned I was sitting by the fire as if nothing happened. She didn't say a word to me as she held the fish over the fire.

"so not as easy as it looks huh" I teased

"shut up, this is my fish and I'm going to eat it all by myself" she said proudly, I had to admit that for a first time it wasn't a bad try, but still I couldn't get the image of her chasing the fish out of my head and grinned at that memory.

"what are you smiling at?" she asked, while she ate her fish.

"nothing, congratulations with your catch" I said.

"thanks" she decided to take that as a compliment and ignore the sarcasm in my voice, smart girl.

The next day we walked through a small forest trail, I could smell that humans passed her regularly, so I was on my guard. She seemed to notice my uneasiness.

"is something wrong?" she asked, when I once again had stopped when I heard a noise, even though I knew it was probably nothing but a chipmunk or something, better safe than sorry.

"no"

"what is it, you've been on edge all day" she stopped and I could already see from the determination in her eyes that she wasn't going to continue before I explained my weird behavior.

"the scent of humans is all over the place, probably a village nearby or something"

"oh, maybe we should head back then"

"no way, you're going to go into the village and beg someone to take you in"

"what why?"

"because I can't babysit you forever, it's dangerous here and you should be with your own kind"

"Do you really want me to go?!" she yelled. Of course not, I wanted her to stay with me for as long as possible, I would rather kill myself then say this out loud but she's my friend, the only one I've ever had and I'm certain I'd be miserable again without her, but she doesn't have a future here, she doesn't belong with me, she should be in a bed in a village with people who love her, not in the forest struggling to survive with a Hanyou.

"Yes I really want you to go" she looked shocked that I said that to her face.

"alright, I guess I can't make you stay with someone like me, I'll just go" she smiled and walked on ahead of me. I was shocked she thought that, I wanted to tell her I didn't mean it that way and it would be better for her, but I reconsidered, she doesn't need to know that.

I just watched her walk alone down the trail, I jumped in the trees, concealing my presence, but I followed her I remember the last time she went into a village alone. After a while she reached the village, she looked back but when she saw nothing but an empty forest behind her she started to cry.

I didn't want her to be sad, but this has to be done. She cleared the tears of her face and walked to the village. Good girl, I kept watch over her, all seems well, there isn't any reason the villagers wouldn't take her in she's just a human girl after all. There would be at least one good soul in that village who'd take pity on her and offer her a home.


	5. One and the same

**One and the same .****  
**

I watched the village for a while longer, if I turned away it would mean I was all alone again and I wasn't ready for that just yet. But knowing she was alright was a big relief. Then I heard a scream, not again.

I watched her run again were men chasing her only this time she didn't make it into the forest, she tripped, twisted her ankle and landed on the ground. she didn't get up, she just lay there when the men caught up with her and started kicking and punching her limp body. That was it! With one leap I placed myself between her and the monsters.

"a demon?" they all jumped back surprised by my interference.

"what did she do to deserve this" I growled, the weak humans took a few steps back and held their 'weapons' in front of them in a futile attempt to protect themselves from my wrath.

"answer me" I growled again.

One of them stood forward and did his best to hide his fear and show courage, yeah as if.

"She's an evil witch all the villages have been warned of her,she'll side with the demons, seems like the day has already come, come on men we have to take them out!" He yelled and lifted his pitchfork, the others followed his lead. I stood my ground, I watched Kagome still laying in the dirt, she was conscious I could smell her fear and tears.

I had to make an end to this, I flexed my claws in an attempt to scare them off, I can beat them I may be smaller and younger than them but I am stronger, I have demon blood pumping through my veins and now I have something I have to protect so there is no way they're going to get through me.

"I'm warning you, run away while you still can" I cracked my knuckles which caused a few of them to stop in their tracks, the others were just as afraid as them but they didn't show it. I could tell by the quick beating of their hearts, the sweat running down their over sized empty heads and their haggard breathing they were just as afraid.

I smirked, this would be over soon, one of them finally had the balls to struck out at me, I merely clawed his weapon in two, a couple of them ran after that but there were still three left. I punched the guy in the face, the force send him flying he was unconscious before her hit the ground.

I grinned at the two remaining, and signaled for them to come closer. They looked uncertain to each other still deciding to fight or run, they chose for the latter when I growled again. I smirked, quite pleased with myself though that only lasted a moment.

I felt her move between my legs, I turned my attention towards her. stupid humans how dare they! She's one of their own, a little defenseless human girl. She let out a little cry of pain when she made a wrong move. I looked behind me and saw the rest of the villagers looking strangely from a distance, I've got to get her out of here. I carefully picked her up and disappeared in the trees.

She twisted her head in my chest and clutched my haori tight in her little hand, she was crying. I'm sorry Kagome if I'd known I would have never made you go back. I said to myself.

I sniffed the air every few minutes trying to locate a stream where I could clean her wounds … again. After a while I found one, she had stopped crying but her face was still buried in my robe, if she wasn't hurt I wouldn't remove her but her wounds need to be treated.

"Kagome?" I whispered, she didn't give a sign that she heard me, "hey, are you awake?" she nodded, never removing her head. "I'm going to put you down now, alright? I'm gonna look at your wounds so you have to let go of me" she didn't answer just held me tighter, it was heartbreaking.

"please? You're hurt pretty badly" she refused again and squeezed me even tighter, "why not?" I didn't understand, I thought she'd be mad at me for forcing her to go into the village, for leaving her.

This time she looked up at me, her face was covered with dirt, blood and tears. "please" her voice was broken from all the crying "please, don't leave me" she didn't want me to leave her? she wants to stay with me? she started crying again, I wept a tear from her cheek.

"I won't leave you" her crying slowed down a bit and she looked me straight in the eye.

"promise me" she wept, I looked at my hand and saw that one of her teardrops I swept away had landed on my pinky a sudden feeling of déjà vu came over me, I smiled at the irony.

I showed her the teardrop and kissed it away, "I swear I won't leave you" she watched me with large eyes as if she knew the meaning behind this ritual, she nodded and moved away so I had room to clean her wounds.

She's something else, in this short period of time we spend together we became best friends, I would never ever leave her again, because the promise I made that day was as serious as I could get. There was no way I'd ever brake this promise because if so I would disappoint my mother too, then would the promise I made to her also mean nothing. No I would stay by her side and I would protect her with my life, she doesn't need to know that though.

I watched her sleep that night, I dug us a burrow between the roots of a large tree. It was night so I couldn't see her clearly but with my partly night vision I could easily determine the contours of her face as she slept not far from me. Usually when we had to sleep this close to each other she had the habit of scooting closer to me in her sleep, subconsciously seeking warmth. But tonight she stayed on her side of the small cave.

Normally I would be glad because of that but after what happened earlier I'm kind of disappointed she didn't. Not that I want her to cuddle with me in her sleep, but it just isn't normal behavior for her it makes me wonder if she's mad at me, she hadn't said much all day but maybe she's just a little shocked by the events, that must be it. Still if she doesn't turn to her normal annoying self tomorrow I'm going to have to beat it out of her. With that in thought I fell asleep.

I woke up early that morning, I yawned and stretched as far as the little space would let me. I only figured after a while that that movement should have knocked Kagome out of her sleep. I searched for her but found her nowhere inside, so I looked outside and saw her sitting by the small fire she recently built. She was staring into the little flames her thoughts were obviously a thousand miles away.

I sighed, she still hasn't returned to her normal self, come on do I really have to talk I'm a guy, guys don't talk about their problems. I sat across from her, still she didn't acknowledge my presence, this made me feel a little angry, why is she ignoring me?

"good morning to you too" I said, this seemed to startle her, it was as if all her thoughts suddenly returned from their journey.

"euh … what?" she shook her head a bit as if that would help her focus, she still had that lost look in her eyes, I didn't like it.

"what's the matter? Are you mad at me or something?" that probably didn't come out as thoughtful as it sounded in my head but then again.

"no, no I'm not mad at you Inuyasha" she looked down and pulled her knees against her body. Oh come on, please don't cry, and angry Kagome I can handle but not an emotional one.

"why have you been ignoring me?" I don't know exactly why I sounded harsh, maybe some part of me wanted her to be mad at me, I would be mad at me, anger was an emotion I could understand, sadness too I had to deal with a lot of sadness, but I didn't like to bring it up, it would bring back memories I'd rather forget.

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm talking to you aren't I?" she didn't sound angry, she just whispered the words against her knees.

"keh, if you don't want to tell me it's fine" I poked in the fire for a little while, suddenly she looked up at me as if my words had only now had sank in.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I've been thinking about some things the villagers said" she whispered again she looked sad, angry villagers another thing I understood, sign I guess there isn't an easy way out of this.

"what did they say?" I tried, maybe once she talked about it, it would be better, you know share the pain.

"just that, I didn't belong anywhere, that I'm a freak, I shouldn't be allowed to live, I'm a nothing" she looked down again, yeah she and I were the same alright, I looked angry in the fire as if the flames were the cause of our pain.

"do you believe them?" I asked her, she didn't look up this time.

"I don't know" she signed after a while.

"it's only true if you believe them, besides you do belong somewhere" that flew out before I realized it, she didn't seem to catch my mistake, she just kept staring at the fire.

"no I don't" she said, I could see one single tear trailing away from her eye to her chin, ah crap tears.

"yes you do, you're different, you have your place in the world we are just the only ones in it" oh come on, this time she did catch my flaw, she looked up at me.

"we?" she said asking for an explanation she wasn't going to get, so to make the moment not too awkward I did want every man would do in my place … change the subject.

"anyway, how come they all of a sudden turned against you? No offense but they could have kicked you out of the village years ago, why did they do it now?" I was wondering about that, I mean they kicked me out the first chance they got, if it wasn't for my mom I wouldn't have been alive. Again with the unwanted memories, instead I focused on her answer.

"my dad, he protected me" oh, we are truly one and the same.

"oh" I didn't know what to say to this, I didn't want to bring up any painful memories she definitely had.

"he died, a few weeks ago, demon attack" she continued talking, she wasn't even looking at me, but I listened anyway.

"what about your mom?" I asked, curious now.

"she died when I was born, she was sick and wasn't strong enough"

"oh" again I didn't know what to say, I wanted to keep her talking, but I didn't know to leave her alone with her thoughts for a while or to let her poor her hearth out.

"my dad never blamed me, he was the only one to protect me against them. But the moment he died …" she stopped, I knew what that look meant, a painful memory was plaguing her mind, she could get past this point.

"they disrespected his last wishes and turned against you" I finished it for her, I knew her story for it was the same as mine.

"yeah, what about your parents? I mean I know you are a demon but you did you have a mommy and a daddy?" she smiled at me, she looked glad somehow, maybe it was because she knew I understood her pain and I wanted to share it with her and now she wanted me to share my pain, I guess it couldn't hurt the memories were there anyway.

"yeah, I never met my dad he died protecting my mom when she was giving birth to me, my mom, we lived in a village for a while until she died 3 years ago" it felt strangely relieving to tell this to someone.

"oh sorry" she looked sad again, why did she just apologize, it wasn't her fault.

"keh"

"why did you live in a village? Your mom she's a demon, right? Why did she live with humans, I thought demons hated humans" I looked at her amazed, she didn't notice I wasn't a full demon? I didn't want to tell her, I was afraid she wouldn't accept me if she knew what I was, but then again she was different too, we were the same. So maybe she would understand. I remained silent for a while debating with myself weither to tell her or not. Eventually I chose the first, I looked up back at her to see that she waited patiently at my answer.

"my mom, was human, I'm a hanyou" I explained carefully.

"what's a hanyou?" she asked, was she serious? She didn't know what a hanyou was?

"I'm half demon, half human" I explained more clearly.

"oh, you're different too" she stated immediately and smiled at that fact, I knew she wasn't laughing at me, it wasn't that kinda smile, she was glad, she now realized too we were the same.

"yeah" I said.

"did they chase you away too, when she died?" she asked, she already knew the answer, but I guess she wanted me to talk about it.

"yeah" I didn't know what to say anymore.

"sorry" again with the apologizing, she was the last person to be apologizing to me.

"stop apologizing already" I barked.

"sorr …" she started and clamped her hand over her mouth before she could finish.

"what's it like?" I asked after a long silence.

"what do you mean?" she didn't understand my question.

"what's it like having a dad?" I asked again, she smiled again, my mom had the same smile when she was remembering someone she loved.

"it's the best, he taught me everything I know, you know making a fire, catching fish and stuff, a dad, my dad he didn't talk so much, you know though guy act or something but I just knew he cared about me, he always looked out for me you know he's also a little bit overprotective from now and then but I didn't mind. One time he even punched a guy because he was teasing me again. I looked up to my dad, I guess everybody does, no matter if he's a farmer or a soldier or something you always think your dad is the best, I really miss him" she looked sad at the end.

"sounds great, you know having a dad" I didn't even realized I missed having a father, how different my life would have been if he was still alive.

"what's it like having a mom?" she asked in return, I guess now I had the same smile in my face

"my mom, my mom didn't teach me much, just that even though I was different I deserved my place in this world that everyone has good in them. She always was peaceful, but she could get very angry whenever I did something dangerous or when someone talked bad about me, she always worried about me too much. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, but I guess everyone thinks that about their mom. She used to hug me whenever I was sad and when she did it felt like nothing could though me anymore I was save and loved, like even though everyone was against me she wasn't and that was what mattered most. I think about her every day"

We stayed quiet for a while, I smiled at the fire as I remembered every happy memory. I looked over to Kagome and saw that she was smiling at me, a little embarrassed about my showing of emotion I shook my head as if the shake them out.

"your mom, sounds like a wonderful woman" she said, her own voice thick with emotion.

"yeah she was, your dad doesn't sound that bad too"

"yeah" she smiled at the fire again and remained quiet for a while, I saw her smile fade, she clutched the fabric on her chest where I guess her heart was beating. "does it ever go away?" she cried again.

"what?" I was startled by her unexpected question.

"the hollow feeling in your chest?" she looked at me, she was tearing up again, the hollow look was back.

"not completely, it will dull in time but it will always be there" I didn't lie to her, it was true even now I felt the hole in my chest were my mother's love used to be. I sometimes I hardly noticed anymore, I guess I gotten used to it, it was worse when I was all alone.

"oh, you must have been so lonely" she scooted closer to me, I didn't mind today.

"it wasn't that bad" I lied.

"I don't know if I could survive like you did all on my own, guess you're stronger than me" she laid her head on my shoulder and she sighed, alright she was way too comfortable.

"like I didn't know that" I teased, way to break the moment!

"oh you are so full of yourself" she punched the shoulder she was snuggling earlier. Her face was red with anger, good anger is good.

"no, it's just a fact, you admitted it so there is no problem" I grinned at her to piss her off even more.

"keh" she said as she sat down again on the opposite side of the fire.

"hey that's my line!" I growled, it was her time to grin now, tsk wench.

* * *

Hey everyone, so chapter five of this story, please review

thank you


	6. Mud fight

**Mud-fight.**

It was raining today, like really, really raining. If you but set one foot outside you were drenched from head to toe, any sane human or hanyou in my case would have sought cover.

So why again am I playing outside with Kagome? My thoughts were interrupted when a ball of mud flew against the back of my head.

"yesss! Finally I got you!" she was doing a little victory dance, which was quickly ended with a shriek when she saw me running in her direction. She was laughing as she ran through the forest, her bare feet were covered with mud, she was soaked and her hair and clothes were dirty from the mud balls I had thrown at her.

To my surprise I actually had fun, I laughed at her when the first dozen mud balls she had thrown at me had missed, turns out she has the worst aim. I leaped, jumped over her head and landed in front of her.

"gotcha" she squealed and turned the other direction, "you can't run from me!" I yelled and followed after her.

"I can try! Quit cheating already!" she shouted at me as she ran.

I smirked and leaped again this time I tackled her, with a big splash we both crashed to the muddy ground. because of the power I put behind the tackle I had to take the brunt of the fall otherwise she would have gotten hurt. So that put me in the disadvantage of her being on top of me.

She quickly pinned my hands under her knees and scooped a large piece of mud and held that above my face.

"drop that and you're dead" I threatened, she had an evil smile on her face that I did not like.

She lowered the mud closer to my face, she probably wasn't going to drop it but because of the rain the whole thing dissolved and splashed right in my face, I heard her grasp and run away.

The raining had slowed a bit, angrily I wept the mud from my face and searched for her in the direction she ran off.

"don't think you can run from me now wench! You're gonna pay" she had hidden herself I couldn't hear the splashing of her feet. Normally I would have simply sniffed her out but her scent fades fast in the rain.

I jumped up in the highest tree within reach and scanned the aria. She had hidden herself well, I smirked, I love a challenge. I closed my eyes and listened, I heard the sound the raindrops made when they crashed down on the leaves, the movement of a few squirrels a few trees further, the wind that disturbed the leaves, the snapping of a twig and a rapid heartbeat. "gotcha" I grinned and jumped up in the tree I knew she was hiding under.

I saw her at the base, she held her chest and looked in the direction of the place she knew I was moments ago, this was too easy. I jumped down a few branches until I was right above her.

"where is he?" she whispered, she kept looking back. I lowered myself right behind her without her noticing.

"Looking for someone?" I whispered in her ear, she screamed, it hurt my sensitive hearing. From the shock she fell on her butt in the middle of a puddle. I laughed at that sight.

"you jerk!" she screamed as I laughed my head off.

"now for payback" I cracked my knuckles to scare her a bit. She stared at my wide eyed and gulped.

"look, it wasn't my fault, let's forget about it and … eeee" I threw her over my shoulder and headed for the closest pond. She kept screaming and pounding her little fists against my back in vain.

"well Kagome you're awfully dirty, shall I help you clean up?" she looked over my shoulder and saw a small coldwater pond.

"no, no, that isn't necessary, please, don't, I'm sorry alright, I'm sorry !"

"I can't hear you" I smirked and threw her the rest of the way in the water. She squealed until she was completely under, she broke the surface moments later.

"yyyyouu jjjeerk" she shivered, I continued laughing.

"sssstoopp, llaughingg aaalreaaddddy!" she walked to the shore, it wasn't that deep. She extended her hand.

I decided she had been punished enough so I grabbed it to pull her out, she tried to pull me in with her, but she was simply too weak to do so. I frowned at her for that.

"you want to go in for another dive" she shook her head franticly to the side.

"good" I got her out in one swift pull. "come on, let's get our clothes to dry" I turned around and got down on my knees so she could get on my back easily.

She nodded her head, and climbed on. I jumped as fast as I could to the cave. She shivered the entire way, I felt a little guilty , but then again the rain was probably colder then the water from the pond, so I did her a favor besides she was drenched already.

We got to the cave in no time, we had collected some dry wood before the rain began, to help us through the night. She started immediately at her job. In a matter of minutes she had a fire started.

She pulled off her clothes to let them to dry in front of the fire, she sat with her back to me. I was blushing, she was naked ! I pulled of my red robe of the fire rat and draped my white undershirt over her.

She blinked up at me and blushed too when she saw that I had only my pants on.

"it's dry, the fur of the fire rat is water proof, so it only gets wet on the outside." I explained, she nodded and pulled on my shirt and scooted closer to the fire.

"but you'll get cold" she said

"keh, I'm not a weak human, I don't get cold" … much

"oh, thank you"

"no problem" we smiled at each other.

The comfortable silence was broken by her sneezing.

"don't you dare get sick on me"

"I don't get sick" she stated, yeah as if all humans get sick someday, painful memories drifted across my mind, I tried to ban them out as quickly as I could.

"what's with that face?" she asked, apparently the anguish I felt was not always as well hidden as I hoped it would. I quickly tried to pull myself together.

"an I'm-not-going-to-take-care-of-you-if-you-get-sick face" I didn't look her in the eye, I hoped she wouldn't press this matter and just change the subject.

"first of all I'm not getting sick, second I don't need you to take care of me and third it's your fault if I would in fact be getting sick which I'm not" she stood up during her little speech, I had to smile at her while she rambled, she was always got angry about small things like this and oh I did enjoy pissing her off.

"yeah, because I was the one who went playing in the rain" I countered while throwing another piece of wood on the fire.

"yeah and I threw myself in the freezing water"

"first of all the water was warmer then the rain, second you were already soaked and third you deserved it" I said while doing an impersonation of her ramble earlier.

We glared at each other and had a stare down, but she broke down in sneezes and landed on her butt by the force of them. I had to smirk at her clumsiness, she saw that I was practically laughing at her and glared at me again.

"isn't funny" she said in a nasal voice.

"yeah it is" I sat back down an threw another piece of wood on the fire. She eyed me and looked at my shirt, I wondered what she could be thinking, there was that wicked smile again.

"what are you smirking at wench?"

"oh nothin" she held the sleeve of my shirt under her nose.

"don't you dare" I stood up "I swear it Kagome I toss you right back into that lake if you do, you disgusting little human"

"yeah? Say I'm not sick!" she threatened, did she not know me at all?

"I should have left you naked" she was about to cover my sleeve with her filthy boogers but I grabbed her hand before she could do so.

"what did I …" I pulled her closer to me and felt her forehead, "you have a fever!"

"I do not!" she countered, she was slightly disoriented from the force of my pulling, or so I hoped I steadied her until she stopped wiggling.

"yeah you do, go to sleep you're sick" before she could argue I kicked her legs from under her, but caught her before she would crash onto the solid surface of the cave. I laid her close to the fire.

"what are you doing?" she struggled, but I kept her down.

"you can either get to sleep willingly or I can knock you out, either way you're going to listen to me."

"you wouldn't" she countered.

"you don't know me at all do you?" I smirked at her, alright I would not knock her out but she had to get some sleep.

"only because you asked so friendly" she said with sarcasm before closing her eyes, guess she really was tired, stubborn girl.

I didn't really like her asleep, it was too peaceful for her, she laying still and not moving it didn't seem right. I tried not to think about the last time I watched someone ill sleep only to stay like that for all eternity. I forced those memories out and focused on hearing her steady breathing. If I listened really carefully I could determine her heartbeat.

I didn't sleep that night, not much anyway, I continued to throw wood on the fire so she wasn't cold and listen to the sounds around me. once she stirred in her sleep and I had to fight the urge to sweep a stray strand of hair that had fallen in her face. I was becoming a wuss, one day I swore to become a full powerful youkai, the next I'm babysitting a sick human.

Damn, still I couldn't bring myself to want to go back to my life before I met her, if you can call that a life, to be totally honest I actually had fun today, when I was with Kagome I could laugh again. she's my friend, my first and thereby my best friend.


	7. Sesshomaru

Enter Sesshomaru.

I was alone in the woods, something didn't feel right today, Kagome was still sleeping in the camp when I sensed something. It kinda felt like a powerful evil presence still oddly familiar. I went to see where that strange feeling was coming from.

I didn't smell anything out of order, I didn't hear anything weird either, but there was something out there that made the hair on my neck stand on its ends. I was about to turn back to camp, grab Kagome and get the hell out of here. Then it hit me, literally.

I barely had the time to duck away when the ground was blasted from beneath my feet. I rolled a couple of feet across the dirty ground and looked up to see the meanest ugliest youkai I've ever seen smirking down on me.

"Sesshomaru" I whispered, I knew I've felt that evil aura before.

"you remember me Inuyasha? That will make it easier explaining then" he touched the ground and kept staring at me with eyes full of disgust, like he would rather die than talk to me, I must say the feeling is mutual.

"to what do I owe the pleasure?" I got down into a crouch, it was easier for me like this to avoid possible attacks. Which I would be expecting any minute now.

"I'll come straight to the point, half breed, tell me where father's grave is" his stupid monotone voice, was filled with dominance and silent strength. In the world of the inuyoukai, he defenitly was the alpha. Which made all the more angrier, because I just hated to be in a submissive position.

"why would I know a thing like that?" I remember nothing from my father, but the stories my mother told me. As far as I know he does not have a grave, he perished in the fire.

"don't insult me filthy half demon, your mother must have known where it is located, but since I can't ask her now, I'll ask you one more time where is it!" I growled at him for bringing my mother into this.

"How the hell should I know? I've never seen him or his grave, now stop bothering me" I wanted nothing more than to run away, Kagome is still resting in the cave, she is still not fully recovered from her illness.

"I should kill you for your insolence" he spoke and started to walk towards me, I was torn what should I do? Fight, don't fight, run don't run. Should I run with Kagome or run away from her so the bastard can't possibly harm her?

"let me do it lord Sesshomaru , no need for you to get your hands filthy" a small little toad like creature was jumping up and down next to my brothers leg, holding a weird staff, about twice his size.

"stay back Jaken" was all Sesshomaru said and the toad baked off.

"yes milord"

Sesshomaru punched me so fast I would have missed it if I'd blinked, I went crashing head first into a nearby tree, he didn't even give me the chance to get up for his foot was pushing me down.

"now answer me"

"don't know" I should have ran .

"then you don't have a purpose here hanyou" I saw his claws burning with a strangely green color, this can't be good.

"just take your little servant and leave me alone" I probably shouldn't have provoked him, but I was death either way so it didn't really matter.

"pay more respect to lord Sesshomaru you filthy half breed!" the little toad jumped angrily up and down.

"this is where you die Inuyasha" he said simply, he flexed his claws and I awaited the final blow, I'm sorry mom I couldn't keep myself alive, sorry Kagome that I have to leave you. I closed my eyes, but the blow never came.

"what are you …" between me and death stood now Kagome "… Kagome?" she was glaring at Sesshomaru with more anger then I've ever thought her to be capable of.

"you jerk, he said he didn't know, where it is, just leave him alone!" she yelled and angry tears sprang from her eyes, the idiot didn't she know we were now both were going to die?

"get out of here Kagome!" I yelled.

"well Inuyasha, it seems that you have a servant as well" he just stared at Kagome his claw was in mid air.

"I'm not his servant you jerk!" she yelled and stepped closer to him, she punched him in the stomach, or tried to anyway. He had caught her tiny fist easily, what the hell was she trying to do? She couldn't even beat me, what made her think she had a chance against him.

"foolish human, this lord Sesshomaru can't be defeated by the likes of you" I stared in shock as her hand began to smolder.

"Leave her alone! Bastard it's me you want !" I jumped up and tried to pull her away, but I couldn't.

Suddenly Sesshomaru's arm caught fire and he was flung backwards because of her shield.

"wow" we both said, I looked at her hands, they were fine. It wasn't Kagome's hand that was smoldering, it was Sesshomaru's

"how dare you human, I will kill you for this" the little toad jumped up again, I stood in front a dazed Kagome, she was just as surprised as we were to what she just did.

"well, well a miko Inuyasha, who would have thought? Still miko or not she isn't a match for me"

"you're not laying one hand on her" I clawed at him with all my might and yellow claw marks busted out and shredded at his already burned down arm, giving us the perfect opportunity to run away.

" you can run for now Inuyasha but one day I'll defeat you, I'll wait until you grow into more of a match to do so" he said quietly. I didn't care we just had to get out of here as quickly as possible.

I grasped Kagome's hand in mine and ran as fast as I could, after a while Kagome started complaining so I slowed my tempo a bit but didn't stop running, I felt like that first night again. running from the pain you coward only now I have Kagome with me.

"inuyasha stop!" she yelled, and stopped running, but I pulled her along, she made us both trip and fall to the ground.

"what the? Why did you do that" I stood up and yelled at her, she looked up at me and rubbed her bruised wrist, I felt guilty for doing that all the more proof that I was nothing more than a filthy hanyou.

"Inuyasha what is wrong?" she stood up too, using a nearby tree as leverage and came closer to me.

I avoided her look, the taunting voice of my big brother was still roaming inside my head as well as all the past curses and stabs anyone had ever thrown at me, mommy the child in me cried, why did he have to mention her?

Suddenly I felt a warmth spreading through my body, I opened my eyes and saw Kagome encircled her arms around my torso and pushed her head against my chest.

"kagome?"

"he's wrong, you know that right?" she looked up at me and whatever I wanted to say next just died down in my throat.

"you're strong and brave and powerful, kind and my best friend never forget that you hear me!" she yelled while she crushed her little body against mine, it was a strange feeling, like she was absorbing all my pain and replacing it with something else. I had no choice but to hug her back.

My knees started trembling and in fell down again, she went down with me and continued to hold me. I rested my head on her shoulder and in a moment of weakness a few tears escaped.

"you know I'll never leave you too right?" she whispered, I looked up to her and saw nothing bust honesty in her eyes.

"promise?" I'll probably hate myself later on for being so weak at that moment, but this was apparently something I needed.

She smiled sweetly and reached to my face and wept away a single tear with her pinky. My eyes widened at what she did next. She kissed the tear away from her little finger.

"I swear" she whispered, she probably didn't have a clue about what that meant to me, or maybe she did I never know with Kagome, but either way it made my hearth soar and I almost felt our bond grow even stronger than before.

"thank you" I said before hugging her again.

"anytime" she whispered and pulled me close.


	8. Secrets

A/N: Kagome is now about 12 and Inuyasha 13 or something, I don't know exactly how much they difference in age in the series but I've been informed that one year should be about right. Anyways so here's the next chapter. I must apologize, I don't always update on time. But I promise that I will finish the story, just show some patience from time to time ... I should probably take my own advice when it comes down to that but anyways...

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kagome or Inuyasha, I think this is pretty obvious because if you do own them why the hell post it on fanfiction? you're a freaking millionaire! Not to mention a genius ^^ I do so love Rumiko Takahashi for bringing Inuyasha to this world, thank you!

**

* * *

****Secret.****  
**

I was so angry at her for her little stunt she pulled with my brother, still that didn't last very long. Because of all that reckless behavior her illness returned. The first day, was the worst. She had a fever, a terrible headache and a runny nose. Humans call it having a cold and if you have plenty rest and water the sickness won't last longer then a couple of days. Yeah, I don't know what the other humans are like and quite frankly I don't give a damn about them but telling Kagome to lie down and do nothing … I don't think so.

The girl can't keep still or quiet for five minutes, what makes matters worse, I couldn't argue with her. cause every time she started yelling at she would grab her head in pain not long after . It made me worry a bit and I wished that just for once she would shut up and listen to me. But to be honest I would be more worried if she actually stayed still and did as I said.

One time I was out to get us some food, I came back to an empty cave. She didn't get far, nor was she hard to find. She was lying face down under a tree, she tripped and didn't have the energy to get up again. stupid girl.

I was so angry at her then but that quickly vanished when I saw her weak attempts to get up on her own. She's so stubborn sometimes, she refused to let me carry her back to the cave, she didn't have much choice though. All in all I'm glad that is over, she's feeling much better now.

"hey, Inu where are you?" I heard her yell, she scared away the rabbit I was hunting … lucky rabbit.

I growled in annoyance, she must have heard because the next thing I knew she was on my back.

"what the hell are you doing?" I yelled, like she hadn't pissed me off enough already.

"wow, good morning to you too" she said while she jumped off my back.

"it's noon, you slept in again" I growled and got up from the ground.

"now you're complaining I sleep too long, a week ago you practically knocked me unconscious because I wouldn't sleep" I didn't reply I just growled and walked the other way.

"hey wait up, what did I do now?" she walked up next to me, nearly tripping over a rock.

"you chased off dinner, ever heard about the word stealth?" I snapped, I wasn't even at all mad at her because of the rabbit, in fact I didn't have any reason at all to be angry at her, I just had a strange feeling all day.

"oh, sorry, I'll make it up, I'll fish !" she smiled at me as if that would make my day.

"yeah, I don't think so, I want to eat today you know" I smirked, truth is she was making me feel slightly better, but I still had a feeling that something was going to happen, I just hoped that it wasn't what I feared it would be.

"you're not in a good mood today are you?" she said sadly and looked at the sky as she followed besides me.

"keh, you still here?" I nudged her with my elbow to get her thoughts out of the clouds, I really wished she would go fishing, I didn't feel like doing anything right now and her attempting to catch anything always manages to cheer me up a bit.

"yeah, you gonna tell me what's wrong?" she pushed back and made eye contact, did she notice too that something was out of order or did she just sense that I was not entirely myself today. After what happened with Sesshomaru, it was clear to me that I had to stop pretending that she wasn't my friend, that she didn't mean anything to me.

"nothing's wrong" I lied and fastened the pace, she stopped suddenly I just continued walking.

"if you're feeling sick you should just say so, you know. I'll take care of you" she said and continued following after me.

"yeah now I'm scared" I turned to look at her and smirked.

"well, whatever it is it can't be all that bad, if you would be acting friendly and kind, then I would be worried" I nudged her again for that when she caught up, she hit my shoulder in return.

"hey I know the perfect name, you know" she said suddenly out of the blue, now she lost me completely.

"for what?" I asked.

"your awesome attack dummy" she clawed the air in front of her with her blunt human nails in demonstration. Oh that, yeah it was kind of weird when those weird lights, like fire erupted from my claws, when I tried to claw at Sesshomaru.

"why would you want to name it?" I asked slightly annoyed.

"so you can yell it out when you use it" she stated as if that was the obvious answer.

"that's lame" I said immediately, what good would that do?

"why, all great demons do it" she said.

"sure and how many great demons exactly do you know?" I had her there

"yeah, yeah only you oh great demon lord Inuyasha" she smiled and made a fake bow.

"quit the sarcasm will yah" I walked on.

"sure thing great lord Inuyasha" she giggled and bowed again, lord Inuyasha … has a nice ring to it.

I shoved her again.

* * *

We … I caught two fishes, so the day wasn't a complete waste, Kagome seemed to notice something was up, because I kept staring at the sun. I knew exactly what was wrong with me now.

"say Inu, do you want to come and watch the stars with me tonight?" she asked carefully.

"what?" her question disturbed my currents thoughts.

"it's a new moon tonight" she said while she sat next to me.

"yeah I know" I snapped, stupid moon if I could I would tear you out of the sky.

"so the perfect night to see the stars" she beamed, I tried to keep in mind that she was just trying to cheer me up.

"not tonight" I stood and walked away.

"why not" she followed me inside the cave where I threw some more firewood on the fire.

"there seems to be a lot of demon activity tonight, safest to stay inside" I lied, I knew how scared she could be sometimes, especially where demons were involved. Then again she can be pretty brave, she has proved that already.

"oh, alright" she looked outside as if a demon could jump out any second. Keh, I knew that would work.

"now get to sleep, or else you won't be able to" I said

"yeah, after you mentioned demons no way I fall asleep" she did as I said anyways, a rather rare sight. She picked her pile of clothes that she used to sleep on and dragged them closer to me. she knew the exactly how close she could lay with me to feel safe and at the same time far away not to piss me off. Just because she is my friend now doesn't mean I like to cuddle, I ain't no softy!

"you do know there is a demon right here in this cave" I reminded her.

"where?" she joked and looked around frantically.

"I am, stupid" I twitched my ears, to make my point clear.

"oh yeah, but you're not a scary 'I'm going to devour you' demon" she held up both her hands like claws in emphasis. She sat cross legged on her mountain of clothes smiling at me, I had to laugh at that a little.

"who knows, I could be" I bared my fangs a bit.

"yeah, sure" she snorted and lied down. I ignored that, I wanted her to fall asleep.

* * *

When the moon disappeared from sight so did my demon powers, my sense of smell, my clear night vision, my claws, my strength in short everything I relied on. Now I could only see clearly what was illuminated by the fire. Damn stupid Hanyou weakness, if I was a full blooded demon I would not have to worry about a trifle thing like the night of the new moon.

I watched over to Kagome and saw that she was sleeping soundly, I never did get how she could sleep so deeply out here. I can't even remember the last night I slept completely at peace. I guess she relies on me to keep her safe during the night, part of the reason why I didn't tell her, this was embarrassing enough without her watching me the entire time and also it was one thing to have a weakness like this, a whole other thing to have somebody know about it.

I don't know why I'm so afraid to tell her about this, I trust her and she is my friend, but it's just scary for me to get so close to someone after all the horrible things that have happened. I looked over to her again and sighed, she made forget about the hollowness in my heart, it doesn't hurt so much when she's with me. But still I knew like no one else that bonds between humans were easily broken. I don't think she would stab me in the back, but the fear of being betrayed still lingered.

I tensed a bit when she turned around in her sleep, she was now facing me. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and resumed my 'guard' duty. As if I could be of use if a demon would chose to attack now I would only be able to do damage if it tripped over my useless human body. I growled a bit out of frustration how humans managed to survive is beyond me. I stared at the few stars I could see from my spot, she was right though, the stars were much clearer tonight.

Normally I would sense something coming up from behind me, but with dulled human senses I didn't notice a thing until it was too late. Something hit me hard on the back of my head and I fell face down from the force. Damn, what the hell was that? My hands flew automatically to the sore spot on my head, my ears were whistling, how the hell did that happen? I was sitting with my back towards the cave, the only ones inside were me and …

"You will tell me right now, what you did with Inuyasha before I knock you out!" I rolled around to see Kagome standing in front of me. I eyed the piece of wood that was held high above her head. She was trembling all over … was she afraid?

"Kagome wait!" I held out my hand in protection if she decided to wail on me again. The look of pure hatred in her eyes told me that she was seriously considering beating the life out of me.

"How do you know my name? Where is Inuyasha I swear if you hurt him you'll be sorry!" she yelled as tears sprang to her eyes, she clutched the wood tighter in her hands, her knuckles whitened. What is she crying for? She could yell at Sesshomaru but a 'human' was too much? I'll never figure her out … stupid girl.

"oi, stop with all the yelling already and put that away wench you're gonna hurt someone" she stepped back. I rubbed my head and hissed when I touched the sensitive area, I tried to slowly sit up without my vision blurring.

"Inuyasha?" she lowered the log of wood a bit.

"yeah, jezes, do you think there are a lot of people out there who wear a robe of the fire rat?" I snapped.

"you're … you're …" she backed up a bit, her eyes widened in confusion.

"human?" I finished for her.

She nodded and seemed to relax a bit when she noticed that it was really me she was talking to.

"How?" all the awkwardness seemed to have disappeared from her system, she sat directly in front of me and watched me with a very concentrated eye … it made me a little uncomfortable.

"It happens" I looked down to escape her penetrating gaze.

"Does it happen often?" she wasn't looking at my face anymore, she just kept staring at the place where I guess my dog ears used to be.

"Only during a new moon" I whispered.

"Oh" she stared at me again and removed herself from my personal space, for which I was thankful. "I'm so sorry" she threw the log away.

"Did you actually think a human, could simply over power me and would just sit in here in my clothes waiting for you to wake up?" honestly what was she thinking?

"Well I certainly wasn't thinking 'oh it's nothing, Inuyasha just transformed into a human overnight'" again with the sarcasm.

"…" well point taken.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she shuffled a bit closer to me and tried to make eye contact again.

"Would you have believed me?" I met her gaze head on.

"Yes, I would, why didn't you tell me? You don't trust me do you?" she frowned a bit at this.

"Keh, if I didn't trust you I would have killed you ages ago" I crossed my arms.

"Then why?" she looked down when she spoke, wait was she sad? Oh crap if she starts crying again.

"It's just the way I've lived, you know keeping this a secret is a big deal for me, it's sucks to be all powerless"

"Yeah" she looked down again and from the little crease between her eyebrows I would say she was thinking about something.

"…"

"I won't tell you know, don't know who I would tell it to, but I promise I won't tell a soul" she whispered.

"Sure" she didn't get it.

"So does it hurt?" she sat closer to me again.

"No, it doesn't"

"Do you get your powers from the moon?" I had to keep myself from snorting at this.

"Keh, no of course not, my powers are mine and mine alone"

"Then why do they disappear on the night of the new moon?" why does she continue to ask questions? I guess if she was to turn into something else overnight I would have a couple question too.

"I don't know exactly, it's just a hanyou thing I guess, every hanyou has a time his human side overrules it's demon one, mine just always happens to fall on the night of the new moon"

"Oh, does it happen the other way around too?"

"What are you talking about wench?"

"Do you have a night were your demon side overrules your human one, and you lose your human powers?" Keh human powers.

"No I don't, not that I know of anyways and humans don't have any powers"

"Sure we do" I don't need my abilities to know this could turn into a heated argument if I wasn't careful.

"Yeah, you definitely have the ability to annoy your opponent to death" well who said anything about me being careful.

"You're one to talk" she countered, I could still see the amusement in her eyes though, I was safe. If she was still holding onto that log though, I would probably have shut up a long time ago.

"Shut up" I said and turned my back to her.

"You're not in a very good mood are you?" she said. Oh god can't she take a hint, I don't want to talk about this any longer! Can't we just get through this night alive and forget about it?

"No I'm not, I hate this night!" I probably shouldn't take my anger out on her, but she asked for it.

"It's not all that bad you know" she whispered and sat by my side again.

"Yeah it is, it sucks being human I don't know how you survive you all are so weak!" my head felt like it was going to explode, what continued to fuel my anger.

"Well, we are determent, we never give up and we care about each other" she pulled her knees up and encircled her legs, she just stared outside as she spoke very gently.

"Yeah, as if" I growled, stupid humans. Memories of my youth flooded into my mind, beatings that I received for no other reason than being different, wounds inflicted for stealing food that I thought would never heal.

"I care about you" she whispered, I looked over to her and saw that she still refused to look at me.

"Well … I don't care about you!" I jumped up, which caused my stupid already limited vision to blur.

"Tsk, you're so predictable sometimes … still I understand why you hate humans so much, but not all humans are like those villagers" I knew she understood about the cruel things out there, she knew the same kind of pain and hollowness that I felt.

"Yeah they are" I knew she was right and had a point though, but right now I'm just too damn angry to give in.

"I'm not like them!" it was her time to jump up angry now.

"Well … you don't count as a villager anymore then I do" I knew she wasn't like them, Kagome was different I don't know how long it will last but right now she is different.

"Alright, so who cares about them, let them think about us what they want, we live in our own world where they can't touch us and they are the outsiders" she yelled and clenched her tiny fist as if to punch someone, I kept a close watch on that fist in case that someone was me.

"Yeah, pretty pathetic isn't it" I smirked.

"No I don't think it is, I think they are the ones that are pathetic" she calmed down a bit.

"For once I have to agree with you" she smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I know why you didn't tell me, you are waiting for me to do something ... something so you can push me away, aren't you?" she didn't give me time enough to answer, "Well I that won't happen, just so you know that you are waisting your time. I won't betray you and I'll stay with you for as long as you want, I thought I promised that already!" she was staring me down, challenging me to dare say something. I just stared at her in amazement, after a few minutes her face just exploded in red as if only now she realized what she had said. She stuttered a little bit and sat back down.

"… So how long before you get your powers back?" she changed the subject after catching her breath and controlling her heartbeat. I thought it was quite cute ... ah, stupid human emotions !

"Sunrise" I replied and sat down again, next to her.

"Don't worry I'll protect you tonight" I tried not to snort at that. The mood shifted back to normal.

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" I joked.

"Shut up" she pushed my shoulder a bit.

"Like you would be able to hold your own against a youkai" I knew she had the guts to at least try, she proved that already, seriously this girl's sense of survival is squat. When she should run she stays put and when she should stay put she runs.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" she pushed me again and smiled.

"Yeah, since when do I listen to you" I leaned back on my arms.

"Damn, I was hoping the jerkiness was a youkai trait"

"Keh"

"KEH!"crazy wench


	9. Miko

**Miko**

"Would you stop it already, I swear it's always weak human this … weak human that, I'm not completely useless you know !" we were right in the middle of one of our famous fights, I started it this time … well to be truly honest I was usually the one who dealt the first blow. Right now she was craning her neck in an attempt to stare me down, Kagome was little even for a human, in times like this I was glad it was physically impossible for her to slap my face, punch me in the eye or maim my ears. Not that she would be able to do much damage if she could reach so far though.

"oh yeah, you can't defend yourself, you can't catch your own food, you haven't been able to walk alone through the forest without all hell breaking lose … you ARE weak and completely useless!" I can't even remember how the fight started, I didn't even mean anything I said. She's just so funny to watch, her face was red and that tiny nose of hers flared like an angry bull. Of course those effects now ten times multiplied when my words seeped through.

"You take that back you bastard, you would be sucking on raw meat right now if it wasn't for me and I can catch my own food, I caught fish the other day" She poked her finger angrily in my chest while she ranted.

"Oh and what good will that fish do if youkai attacked huh? I hope for your sake they're scared of it, cause they're sure as hell ain't gonna be scared of you" With one slight shove, she fell over and landed unceremoniously on her behind. I smirked at that, while towering over her basking in superiority … I don't really mean that, but it is damn funny! She was doing the death glare thing again, I could tell that her anger had now reached its peak …

"You're a real jerk you know that?" She jumped up again and charged.

"Likewise bitch!"

"I'm so out of here!" She turned around and vanished dramatically into the woods that surrounded the little clearing we were currently inhabiting.

"What are you doing? You know there are Youkai out there!" I yelled after her, oh damn this can't be good.

"So? The worst one is standing right there !" She pointed at me and ran away. She will be back soon, I'm sure of it, after she has cooled down a bit, she'll be back.

After a few minutes, she still hadn't returned, ah crap now I have to follow her. I told myself it was because of the promise I made her but actually I was quite worried. I jumped into the tree tops, that way I can stay out of harm's way if she decides to wail on me again.

After a couple of minutes, I began to doubt my own senses, had she really ran that far in that short time? But it was her scent, without a shadow of a doubt. She had grown stronger, I realized that. Something else caught my attention while I was tracking her, the foul odor of death. I saw her standing on the edge of a battle field. Well it used to be a battlefield at least, now it's more like an area covered with human remains. I could smell the stench clearly now, the wind carried it away from me before, but now the smell of blood and rotting flesh were free to flow into my sensitive nose. Crap, I almost lost my footing because of it, I managed to steady myself on a branch before I was send pummeling down to earth.

I saw her walk closer, what the hell is she doing? Hundreds of scavenger's will be here soon, there were already a mass of birds picking at the rotting carcasses. She didn't went far, she just picked something up and watched it closely. I tried to see what she had found that was so interesting, but she blocked my view.

Something lit up in her hands and it caught her attention. Come on I want to see! I strained myself and nearly lost my footing again. she sighed and turned around.

"You can come out I know you are there." Was she talking to me? "Inuyasha, don't hide from me I know you are watching" she turned around and stared right at my hiding place.

"How did you know where I was?" I jumped out of the bushes and landed right in front of her, maybe it was just a lucky guess?

"I dunno, I just sensed you" she shrugged it off.

"You sensed me? You're a strange one you know?"

"You're one to talk" She countered immediately, though the anger that brought a sting to her words earlier had vanished, she must have calmed down then ... yes I'm of the hook ... for now.

"What have you found anyways?" she didn't answer, she just showed me and old bow and a quiver of arrows.

"You know I didn't seriously mean any of that back there … I just … you know …" what I really wanted to say was 'sorry I'm such a jerk all the time, I'm just worried about your safety, seeing that you are my best and only friend and all' or something like that, but the soft look in her eyes told me that maybe she figured out what I could not say out loud.

"no, you have a point … I should be able to protect myself …" translation to that; you are right, Inuyasha, I will listen to you in the future, oh great and wise demon lord. Then again, I'm not as good as her when it comes to non verbal communication, well communication in general really. We both stared awkwardly at the ground between our feet. Fighting was definitely more fun than making up.

"What was that light earlier?" I decided to change the subject, I am rather curious.

"I don't know, I just held one of the arrows and it glowed pink" she showed me the arrows, I didn't see anything special about them.

"A pink arrow?" I questioned and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, weird huh?" She laughed and strapped them to her back.

"so …"

"so …"

"well we'd better go back it's going to be dark soon" and I'm hungry!

"you're not mad at me anymore? You're not going to yell?" She spoke in a little voice, oh damn. Not the guilt trip thing. I swear she is going to be the death of me.

"Oh come on Kagome, I told you I didn't mean it, besides you ran away, you're the one who was mad" I countered, I refused to give in! Damn it no human wench can have such control over me!

"I was going to come back" She whispered, it sounded like she was going to cry. Oh for crying out loud, I'm not going to become a softy!

"Why?" I turned to look at her.

"I promised didn't I ? Besides this weak little human can't survive possibly on her own, now can I" the one minute she was about to cry, now she was cheerful again.

"Keh! Of course not" I scoffed.

"So do what do you think these are?" she asked, I looked over to her to see what the heck she was talking about. She was watching the arrow closely, she turned it over a couple of times in her little hand. She was right though, the tip of the arrow had a strange pink glow. Something inside of me made me shift away from them.

"I don't know, I don't like them. My youkai instincts are screaming that it's dangerous, maybe you should leave them behind" That was the wrong thing to say, knowing her she'll definitely want to take them with us now, just to spite me.

"I didn't think so, your instincts can scream all they want. You complained about me being weak and useless, well once I practice with this I won't be anymore" I knew it, she held out the bow. I tried to picture her all warrior like, feared by youkai and humans alike … I didn't see it. The only thing I could picture is her missing her target by miles.

"Keh, let me see that" I yanked the arrow out of her hands, to see for myself. But once I laid one finger on it, it burned. In shock I dropped it and jumped a couple of meters back with Kagome.

"What do you think you're doing?" She screamed and tried to shove me out of the way, I lowered myself ready for to attack or defend.

"That thing attacked me!" I yelled at her over my shoulder, I realized that I was growling at an arrow but I didn't care. Kagome hit me on the head and stepped around me.

"You're such a wuss sometimes, it only hurts when I shoot it at you dummy" she smiled and was walking back to retrieve the fallen arrow. I grabbed her around the waist and swung her over my shoulder back to camp.

"hey, let me get my arrow first" she yelled.

"No way, that thing is evil" I realized that she was struggling against my grip and pounding her fists on my back, but I wasn't about to let her off. I only smiled at her weak attempts to break free.

"You are so paranoid, it's just an arrow how can it be evil" I ignored her and continued walking. She sighed and stopped her pounding. "You're such a pain sometimes" I continued to ignore her but I did startle her a bit when I readjusted her on my shoulder. Her little squeal, brought a smirk on my face.

Why did the arrow glow? Why did it attack me? True it didn't even hurt all that much, it was more shock than anything else. Maybe it had something to do with me being a demon … half demon. Humans did sometimes posses weapons to deflect youkai, but then again that wasn't possible, only humans with spiritual powers could wield them properly.

When we got back inside the relative safety of our field I all but dropped her on her pile of sleeping clothes. She let out a grunt and gave me a mean look, but otherwise she ignored it and things got back to the way they were. I didn't have to hunt today, we dried the leftover fish we caught yesterday. So I could just kick back and relax a bit. I didn't get much sleep the last couple of weeks so this was a good time to catch up.

I noticed Kagome leaving after she started up the fire, probably to collect more wood or something. My ear twisted itself in her direction, she was just standing at the end of the meadow. What the hell is she doing? I thought she was just daydreaming again or something, but then I heard the bushed rustle unnaturally, Kagome let out a curse. I was on my feet in less than a minute.

I flung myself in front of Kagome and flexed my claws, ready to attack who ever had invaded our territory. My growling stopped as I realized there was no threat, the rustling of the leaves had stopped and there weren't any strange smells or demonic auras. I turned around to see Kagome standing behind me with that bow and arrows.

"what has gotten into you today?" she asked and crossed her arms across her chest, she was looking at me as if I had gone crazy.

"I thought I heard something by those trees and then you were cursing … I just thought … never mind" I turned towards her.

"I was just practicing, I missed the tree I was aiming for and my finger got burnt by the string of the bow that's all" she even showed me the slightly red tip of her finger, I had to stop myself from laughing. I sighed and took her finger and kissed the little wound.

"Poor baby" I said and went back to get some shut eye. Stupid why did I do that? It was sort of a reflex I guess, I remembered my mother doing that when I had scraped my knee. I sighed when those memories flooded back into my mind, I would never fall asleep now even though I just rested my back against a tree and closed my eyes.

I heard Kagome continue to practice on the other side of the meadow, not once did I hear the sound of an arrow hitting wood. Should have figured as much, she could be armed with a thousand knives, swords and … other pointy things, she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. Well that's not completely true, no doubt she would be able to hurt herself … yeah, that sounded like her alright. But still if she wanted to be able to protect herself I have no objection against it. Not that she would ever need it though, I will protect her no matter what.

After a while she came back to the fire and dropped some more wood on it, she looked rather exhausted … no doubt from searching all over the woods for the lost arrows.

"Enough practice for one day?" I teased.

"Shut up, I'm going to get better. You'll be grateful later when I learn to use this thing you know, now I can save your ass too!" she said it like she meant it too.

"Keh not likely wench" Even if I would be in danger, there is no way she would stand a chance against something that was able to threaten me. There was a long silence, she had her arms crossed over her chest and was looking anywhere but at me. This silent treatment usually doesn't last so long, she just needs time to cool down and let the anger go. But in order for her to do that I have to make sure that I don't piss her off in the meanwhile, in other words I have to bite my tongue until she decides that the fight is over before we can start bickering about something else.

I heard her sigh, that usually means that she isn't angry anymore, still better safe than sorry. After a few minutes I saw that little crease between her eyebrows, she must be thinking about something her eyes where very focused too as if she was seeing something else entirely.

"yo wench, what are you thinking about?" I asked. She didn't answer, the girl was still in her dream world. Ignoring me will yah? I got up and scooted right in her line of vision, I didn't have to wait long though, that snapped her right out of it.

"God, give me a scare why don't yah?" she panted a little, I scared her? must have been some daydream.

"What were you thinking about?" I asked again, ignoring her question.

"Something your brother said" her heartbeat went back to normal and her breathing evened out.

"My … Sesshomaru?" Alright didn't see that one coming? Why in hell would she be thinking about him, I tried to think back about what he could have said to her, but all I could remember where the insults he threw at me, true he called her my pet … did she really take so much offense to that? "You shouldn't listen to him, he's full of …"

" … What did he mean when he called me a miko? I don't know what a miko is, do you?" she looked at me again with a hopeful expression.

"… miko? …" I tried to recall it 'well, well a miko Inuyasha, who would have thought? Still miko or not she isn't a match for me' he had said after she lit his arm on fire. I had to smirk at that one, I remembered feeling a little bit of pride when she did that. "err … yeah I remember, don't know what he meant by it though, probably an insult or something"

"Maybe, still I would like to know what it means, maybe I'm like a witch or something?" she sounded a little sad. I shuffled a bit closer to her, so that she couldn't escape my gaze so easily.

"What brought this on all of a sudden, it's been about a month since the Sesshomaru thing"

"It's just that with the arrows … they light up and they shouldn't be doing that and your instincts are always right so maybe I am something evil …" no doubt was she hearing the villagers words in her head. Oh crap did I smell a tear, she lowered her head so I couldn't see it fall … oh damn now I have to comfort her. Not that I mind or something, but it's awkward and weird I don't know how to deal with a crying Kagome.

"I didn't mean that you were evil, stupid. And believe me if those arrows are dangerous I would have sliced and diced them in a million pieces by now." she still didn't look up to me, and I could smell the salt of the next couple of tears she was desperately trying to keep at bay.

"Look, you are not evil alright? You're not, an evil person would not have stayed by my side, you stood up to Sesshomaru for me. you're not evil alright? And if you're thinking about what those villagers said to you, don't you dare believe them, you hear me? They're the ones that are evil, hurting a kid like that." I wasn't getting through to her, crap.

"They're wrong, you know that right? You're a good person and strong and kind and my best friend never forget that you hear me!" I remembered what she said to me, that night after our encounter with Sesshomaru ... a lot of dust in my eyes that night. She seemed to remember too and looked up to me. I saw her smile a bit, my gaze softened. She looked so vulnerable and alone, I didn't want her to feel like that. I hugged her, what went against all of my personal bubble issues but the hell with it.

"Are we gonna be best friends forever?" I heard her whisper softly.

"Stupid wench, what kinda silly question is that? Of course we'll be best friends forever" she tensed there for a moment and pulled back.

"Thanks" she whispered.

"And if it bothers you so much, we could always torture a few humans into telling us what a miko is" I grinned and let my claws glisten dangerously in the light of the fire.

"No, it doesn't bother me that much" she chuckled "I would just like to know what I am. Who knows maybe I'm a demon or half demon too" Kagome said while shrugging her shoulders.

"Nah, you smell like a full human alright." I can kinda understand why she's upset, I remember when I was little that I didn't quite understand why everyone was avoiding me so much. She just wants to know why she's different, why she doesn't fit in.

"So, I guess I'll hang on to the arrows for a while, who knows maybe they'll be of use someday"

"Sure. Let me give you one tip, try not to aim at the demon when you're trying to kill it that way you have more chance of actually hitting it"

"Just you watch doggy, I'll get the hang of this thing." Yeah right. I laid on my back in the grass and watched as the first few stars appeared in the sky. Friends forever huh?

* * *

A.N. : Heya thank you for reading my story

I would like to thank callmeBaby'08' , GoldenRose88 , manga-animelove and crazywriterchick2901 for reviewing to my story


	10. Hit the mark

**Hit the mark.**

We were sleeping in the little meadow, Kagome had gone to sleep with her bow and arrows. Maybe she feared me destroying them while she was sleeping or something. As if I would do something like that … true I had crossed my mind, she just shouldn't be fighting, she seemed too fragile ... Earlier today, I found out that there actually was one thing more hilarious than Kagome trying to catch fish … namely Kagome trying to use a weapon. As I predicted she did more damage to herself then to anything else. True she just burned her finger but still I could sense more trouble coming in the near future.

But I decided to let her have her fun and who knows if she actually can shoot an arrow before it falls back to the ground before she released the string, I may let her finish of a weak demon or take her hunting with me or something.

I looked over our little campsite, the fire had long died down just the smoldering embers remained. No matter what I did I couldn't seem to get any sleep, it didn't have anything to do with our talk earlier or anything but I just couldn't shake of the feeling that something is going to happen soon. I guess it was that battle field we came across earlier today, by now a it will be covered with scavengers. I didn't think it would be such a problem, normally the demons preferred easy prey and you don't get an easier prey than a field with hundreds rotting corpses … still I have a bad feeling.

I scooted a little closer to Kagome, just in case something does attack I can quickly carry her to safety. So far nothing seemed out of order, a couple of bats had flown over the tree tops and some little rodents were wrestling in the bushes. I heard Kagome twist around in her mountain of clothes, sometimes she would talk in her sleep … just rambling though no understandable language of any kind I found it quite cute actually, I would never ever tell her that though.

After a couple of hours, my instincts definitely told me trouble was near. I didn't smell or see anything yet but the forest was dead silent all of a sudden, like it too knew something was going to happen. I clamped my hand over Kagome's mouth and shook her awake.

She woke up with a startle and if I hadn't covered her mouth she would have screamed, instead a little muffled high pitched noise came out.

"shh, we're not alone, get up and stand behind me" I whispered, she nodded took her bow and did as I told. I could feel her hand on my shoulder, it was still very late or early and her vision still needed some adjustment to the pitch black cover of night.

"Inuyasha, I sense something" she whispered.

"Where?"

"There is one to your left, one right ahead of you and one right behind us." she tried her best to steady her voice, though I could hear the slight tremble when she spoke. I pulled her closer to my back and tried to turn her as far away from the danger as possible. Running away isn't an option anymore and even if we could running blindly in the forest with a couple of youkai on your trail is not a wise thing to do. I could smell their scents clearly now, they were exactly were Kagome said they would be, it wasn't a scent I was familiar with.

I started growling, I backed the both of us up and pushed Kagome behind some bushes. I didn't take my eyes of the advancing demons though. I shrugged off my robe of the fire rat and handed it over to Kagome, I don't plan on letting them get to her but better safe than sorry.

"Kagome, you have to listen to me alright? No matter what happens, you stay out of this fight under no circumstances are you allowed to intervene, if something happens or they come after you just run, don't think just run as fast as you can" I demanded.

"But …" she whimpered, I could smell tears in her eyes.

"… Dammit Kagome, just promise me you'll do as I say alright? Please?"

"Alright, I promise to stay hidden and I'll run if they come after me" she whispered, her voice was a little shaky but she tried her best to stay brave.

"Good girl" I whispered and walked a little ahead without putting too much space between me and Kagome. "You can come out now you, stupid cowards!" I yelled.

"ahh, ssssmart little boy, you will make a fine meal" a large snake demon slithered out of the woods, the two remaining ones stayed hidden in the shadows of the forest not far from the one that revieled itself. Snake demons were not so difficult to defeat, but if they chose to attack all at once I will be in some trouble. I also need to stay clear of their fangs, some snake-youkai posses a poison that can slay even the most powerful demon.

"I don't think so" I said, the large one hissed loudly. A smaller snake demon rushed out of the woods and came straight at me, it went for the obvious kill clearly it was hungry and couldn't wait any longer. I smirked and flexed my claws. Normally I hated being underestimated but in times like these it sure comes in handy.

I waited for the moment that the youkai lunged at me, then I jumped up so that it's ugly head went crashing into the ground below me. Which gave me the perfect opportunity to slash its head off in one clean swipe. Those same strange yellow clawmarks appeared again, it was almost like they amplified the power of my swipe. Alright one down two to go.

"I'd take that as a warning and leave while you still can" I yelled at the two remaining youkai, it didn't seem to bother them much that I just slaughtered their friend. The biggest one let out a mean laugh and ordered the other youkai to attack as well.

It came towards me with twice the speed of the previous demon, it took me by surprise and I was too slow to avoid the fangs when the snake tried at bite into my shoulder, luckily for me it just had cloth in its mouth … still I was stuck. Before I could strike him with my claws he used his head as leverage to twist the rest of its slippery body around mine in a deadly choke hold. Damn I cursed, I should have been more careful, I didn't expect that demon to be so close. I heard Kagome scream my name in terror. I couldn't move my body and breathing got harder by the second.

"Kagome run! Run now!" I yelled with the last remaining air that occupied my lungs, the snake continued to wrap it's body tightly around me. My head hurt immensely from of all the blood being forcefully pushed upwards because of the pressure. I tried in vain to kick the snake , but my movements were limited and soon I lost all feeling in my legs, they were just dangling lifelessly three foot from the ground.

"Crush him!" I heard the big youkai yell. I couldn't cry out in pain as I felt my ribs crack one by one by the immense force. I was going to die here, how pathetic. Killed by a weak youkai like this one, if I had just jumped out of the way earlier, just one fraction of a second, but no, stupid weak hanyou!

Kagome, I prayed she was safe. Damn, I didn't believe in a god or a higher being like my mother did, but I was praying none the less. That at least for this one time she would have listened to me and ignored her unnatural instincts to put herself in danger.

My vision blurred, it felt like I was being strangled for an eternity already but it could very well be only a few seconds. I couldn't move a muscle in my body, the only thing I felt was the enormous headache and an incredible pain caused by the broken ribs. I was glad I didn't have the air nor the energy to scream out in pain, I refused give them that satisfaction.

Then the pressure loosened abruptly and I felt my body hit the earth, I coughed and gasped for air. I didn't know what was going on, I could distinguish the feeling of dust against my face and the smell of burning flesh. What happened? My lungs hurt every time I breathed but by some miracle I was still alive.

"INUYASHA!" I heard someone yell in the distance. Kagome! I pushed myself up only to crash down again, collapsing under the sheer weight of my own body. Stupid girl, I should have know she'd lie to me. I tried to pull myself up again, this time I was prepared for the pain in my limbs. I picked up her scent and followed it as fast as I could.

* * *

Kagome's POV

I can't believe I just stood there and watch my best friend being crushed to death, I could hear the little choke noises he was making. Tears streamed down my face before I even realized I was crying, my entire body was numb. Why? Why does this keep happening to me? Why do I continue to lose the people I care about?

"Kagome run! Run now!" I heard him yell as hard as he could, that snapped me out of it. No ! My mind screamed immediately, no matter how sacred and weak I was I would not run and leave him here to die, even if it kills me at least we'll die together! With new determination that suppressed the numbing fear I felt earlier, I clutched the bow tighter in my hands. I realized that if I did manage to take out this snake-youkai the other one will undoubtedly try to kill me. Still he was harming my friend so he was number one on my list. I realized that Inuyasha would be so mad at me, but technically I didn't break my promise. I stayed hidden and if they would come after me I'll definitely run.

With shaky hands I pulled an arrow on my bow, I tried to aim at the snake. Please let this work, I prayed and quickly released the arrow. It missed of course, damn, I wasted no time and released another one, missed again. The third one, I closed my one eye and aimed. 'Please hit the mark' . The arrow flared brightly across the field and imbedded itself deeply into the youkai's flesh. The youkai, released Inuyasha and to my surprise it began to dissolve into ashes. Yes! It worked! I was about to run to Inuyasha, but the snarling demon on the other side of the meadow stopped me dead in my tracks.

The feeling of victory didn't last long as the remaining youkai chased after me. I ran as hard as I could, I realized that by running away I was leaving Inuyasha alone in the meadow, but at least I was luring the demon with me. I could hear it slithering behind me, for a being with no legs it was surprisingly fast.

"You will pay for that, little girl! I will devour you alive !" I heard it hiss behind me, fear dominated my body again though this time it pushed me to run faster than I've ever run before. The tears were streaming down my face again.

"INUYASHA!" I yelled, I knew that he wouldn't be able to help me … it was just an instinct. Whenever I was in trouble he was always there, I could still remember the horror of seeing him falling to the ground lifelessly. Maybe I was already too late? I just knew that that picture, will haunt me for the rest of my life … then again I would not have to suffer long.

A plan! I need a plan. _'Keep changing course, that way your scent trail is harder to find and in the forest it won't be so easy to keep up'_ I could hear him in my head, the survival lessons he taught me over the years. Alright, I turned right abruptly and dashed trough the woods. After a while I could feel the strain on my legs, I was getting tired. _'always, use the terrain to your advantage, search for higher grounds'_ yeah, no higher grounds around here _'and most importantly trust your instincts even a weak human like you has some' _

What I wouldn't give for him to rescue me now, I swear that if by some miracle we both got out of this alive I will never complain again when he calls me a weak human. I don't even know why I made such a fuss about it, he's so right!

I dashed out of the woods and stumbled upon the trail we were on earlier, to the right it lead back to the meadow, left was the creepy field of corpses. I turned left, not wanting that youkai anywhere near Inuyasha again. The snake was a far behind me now, it was just a little slower than me and it seemed to have a hard time following me through the woods … then again it could easily have been toying with me. I pulled out another arrow, if I could just hit it hopefully it will dissolve like the other one.

Please hit the mark, I prayed again as I pulled it on my bow and awaited the youkai. With this one arrow gone I would only have one more left. Suddenly the forest went quiet, I couldn't hear the snake anymore. Had it given up? I doubt it … no I could feel it's presence. It was right ahead of me somewhere covered within the shadows of the forest. _'if you don't see your enemy, just relax and let him come to you, taunt him, get the upper hand'_

"Why don't you come out and quit playing hide and seek!" I yelled, I was proud of myself, my voice was stronger and more confident then I felt. "I know you are there I can sense you" still nothing. "or are you afraid of one weak little human girl?" I yelled.

"You are a brave one I'll give you that, little brat. But don't think I will go down sssso eassssy" right ahead of me! Wait for it … wait for it … NOW ! I released my arrow the purple light illuminated the area for a second. My arrow was deflected on its head as he came charging towards me, damn! I jumped out of the way, rolled on the forest floor and reached for my last arrow. The snake had come out of hiding and was only a couple of meters away from me. I fired my last arrow and it hit the youkai in the side. I felt so relieved … it was over.

"Issss that all you've got girly? A mere arrow cannot pierccce through my ssscalessss like you did with the othersss !" I cried out and ran further down the trail, stupid weak arrows! Stupid weak human, give me a break already! Through the grass the youkai had the advantage, it could gain speed without wasting time dodging trees and rocks. I jumped out of the way just in time to avoid his fangs. I rolled over the ground from the force of the impact. When I came to a stop I felt something sticking painfully out of my side, damn. I pulled whatever it was out I ignored the sickening noises of my tearing flesh, because of all the adrenaline coursing through my body I could hardly feel the pain any more. When said object was removed I saw that familiar purple light again.

I could have cried of happiness then, it was the arrow Inuyasha knocked out of my hands yesterday, I must have landed on it somehow when I was rolling over the ground. Maybe the fates were smiling at me after all. The youkai didn't know I had another weapon and so I had the element of surprise. I pushed myself onto my knees and placed the arrow and the bow in front of me to mask the pink energy glow.

"Giving up girl?" the youkai mocked and came at me head on, it opened its mouth ready to swallow me whole.

"Never !" I yelled and I quickly picked up the bow and pulled the arrow back, before the youkai could figure out what was going on I released my arrow. The pinkish glow followed the arrow all the way from the mouth of the snake to its tail and effectively splitting it in two. With a hellish scream the demon dissolved just like the other one did. "It's over" I whispered and fell to my knees. I did it! I actually did it! I won. I was so happy I started to cry, my arms and legs were shaking, I'm alive, I killed two demons!

"Kagome!" I could faintly hear someone yell in the distance "Kagome!" again, Inuyasha? He made it, I sensed him running in my direction. I got up ignoring my body's protests and limped towards him. The adrenaline had died down, I could now feel the full extent of what my body was suffering. I pressed a hand to my stomach where blood was still oozing out, my legs were shaking from the exercise and I had numerous of cuts and bruises from both fighting and dashing through the woods. But I refused to rest until I was reunited with him.

* * *

Inuyasha's POV

I followed the trail of destruction as fast as I could, I was going to be too late, was all that rang through my head. Any time now I would stumble upon that demon devouring her or heard her scream out in agony. Still I refused to give up I pushed myself further and further. I could see a bright pink light up ahead, I yelled her name, she was close, she was still alive.

"Kagome!" I yelled again, when I smelled the disgusting scent of her blood in the air. I landed on the little forest trail we were on earlier and ran across it. I stopped when I saw the remains of that snake demon scattered everywhere, she did it. A smile spread across my face, where was she? I heard her whimper and saw a little figure limping through the chunks of dead snake flesh.

I ran to her and crushed her little body against mine, she was alive. She was bleeding and bruised and battered, but she was alive. Her tiny shaking arms wrapped themselves around me and she pressed her face into my chest. I didn't care that she was shoving around the broken ribs, she was alive. A few tears escaped from my eyes, I quickly swept them away.

She was sobbing into my chest and trembling all over, too exhausted to keep standing we both trashed to the ground it didn't break our hold on each other, afraid of what would happen if we let go. I realized she was mumbling something in my chest, so I released my hold on her a little so I could look at her face. She was crying too, though I had already swiped all evidence of tears from my face.

"you're alright" she lifted her hand and caressed my cheek, I did the same with her. "I did it" she laughed while crying her eyes out. "I did it"

"yes you did, I'm so proud of you" I erased her tears with my thumb, she must have been so scared. "Kagome, are you alright?" she stared at my face in horror, I frowned what was that look for? She pulled her hand back and kept staring at it with that same look. The scent of blood hit me hard, her entire hand was drenched in it. It was hers, I noticed that the front of her shirt was soaking wet from the blood. Her face was too pale and her body went limp in my arms.

I tore open her kimono and saw an ugly wound above her left side of her hip, I started to panic. "Kagome! Stay awake! Please tell me! Did the snake bit you?" if this wound was caused by the fangs of that youkai, there would be nothing more I could do, but hold her in my arms while I watched the life drain out of her eyes. The tears I tried to hold back returned full force. I shook her, to get her to focus on me.

"Kagome! Answer me, did the youkai bit you?" I yelled, I shook her again.

"no … arrow … stuck … lucky" she whispered before losing conscious. I didn't know what it meant, but I was sure that she didn't get any venom inside of her. After I had a few minutes to calm down and think rationally I sniffed and didn't smell the stench of poison. I tore off a piece of cloth from my kimono and pressed it against her wound to stop the blood.

"It's gonna be alright Kagome! I will make sure you're gonna be alright. I promise!" We sat there for a while, I had to wait until the bones in my chest weren't throbbing painfully anymore. We wouldn't get very far if I started to walk around with her in my current condition, I had to get my strength back first. It wouldn't take long though, probably a few hours and it will be healed well enough for me to move. For now I just kept pressure on her wound and made sure she was warm enough for the rest of the night.

* * *

a.n: I don't know if it bothers someone that I changed to Kagome's point of view in the middle of this chapter but it was kinda necessary, let me know what you think.

also thank you again manga-animelove, callmeBaby'08' and GoldenRose88 for reviewing !

until next time


	11. Priestess

**Priestess.**

I must have gone crazy, that is the only possible explanation. If you told me a few days ago that I would go willingly into a human village I would have laughed my head off. Now I stand here, my demonic features safely hidden underneath a smelly cloth. People still gave me strange looks though but they probably classified me as a lost, scavenging orphan or something, I couldn't care less, I'm on a mission. So far no good, I wasn't absolutely sure what or who I was looking for nor do I have any idea of how to find it … but I am desperate, this was my best plan yet.

Somewhere safely in the woods lay my best friend suffering, after my failure with the snake youkai's I wasn't able to stop the infection, I lacked the skill and the knowledge to properly tend her wounds. Every time I tried to clean her wound the bleeding would begin again and she had lost so much blood already I feared she was going to run out. The wound wasn't healing as it should and she had a fever, in my panic I rushed into the first village I could find in search for a medicine man.

Which is what I am doing now, so far nothing yet. I tried to ask a couple of the villagers but they either got angry or afraid, stupid selfish humans should have known. I swear if Kagome dies because of their lack of sympathy I'll tear this whole place to shreds.

I stopped in my tracks when a scent filled my flaring nostrils, it was faint and I would have missed it if it wasn't so out of tune with the rest of the scents of the village. The scent of all kind of herbs and flowers, a normal farmers house smelled like dirt and crops, this could only come from the house of someone who knew something of herbs and medicine. I allowed myself to hope and followed this scent.

It lead me to a small house at the edge of the village, it was at the bottom of a shrine. Of course priests were required to have some knowledge of that kinda stuff especially in a village like this. I knocked on the wooden house.

"Hello? Any one home?" no one answered, I pushed the curtain aside and entered. No one was here, damn, just as I thought I had some luck. Maybe I can get some plants to heal her wounds or something. I spotted a large number of pots filled with all kind of dried stuff.

I looked and smelled in every single one of them, it would help if I knew what to look for. I could probably take all of them, but if I used the wrong kind I could easily kill her. Damn! I hit my head against the wall in frustration, why does everything always go so wrong, why do I continue to lose the people I care about?

I won't be able to live on, I won't be able to fight the loneliness again not without her. I could almost feel the hole in my heart starting to reopen again, just waiting until the moment her heart stops beating to tear me apart again, this time beyond repair.

An arrow embedded itself into the wood right next to my head, I must have really been out of it to miss that.

"What is it yeh seek here halfdemon? That was only a warning my next arrow will purify you!" I turned around and saw this old hag standing there aiming an arrow at my head. The tip was blazing pink, I recognized that energy! Ask about that later, more important business remember?

"Are you the owner of this house?" I asked. Her penetrating angry gaze never left me.

"Yes I am, I'll ask you one more time halfdemon what is it you seek here?" she was getting impatient. How did she know I'm a halfdemon?

"My friend is hurt, can you heal her?" she wasn't expecting that answer, she eased up on the whole dead glare thing but didn't lower her weapon.

"I cannot heal, demons" she informed me.

"she's not a demon, she's a human." She seemed to be in deep thought, no doubt she had as many questions about me as I had about her.

"I do not fall for tricks halfdemon" she declared and went for the death glare again. I don't have time for this, I lowered my gaze and pictured Kagome suffering in the forest all alone, scared, in pain.

I fell on my knees, I'd give up everything to save you Kagome even my dignity.

"If you want me to beg I will, please save her, she's dying" this time she slowly lowered her weapon. She let out a long sigh and stepped away from the doorstep. She's going to tell me to go away, that she won't waste her time on someone like us. Outcasts lived alone and suffered alone, we did not deserve kindness and normally we would not accept it either.

"Very well, bring her in here, I'll see what I can do" it was my time to be shocked now, she didn't have to tell me twice though. I ran out of her cabin and straight for the place where I left her.

"Inuyasha?" her small voice sounded when I stepped into her view. She's so weak, damn I have to be strong, I forced back the painful memories and carefully lifted her into my arms.

"Kagome, you have to hang on for a little while alright? I found help, a medicine woman is going to heal you and clean you up"

"Bbbut … the village … evil …" she trembled, her skin was so pale and clammy, her hair lost its shine and clung to her face and neck.

"yeah I'm not fan of it either, we'll leave as soon as she fix you up alright? just trust me on this one" she didn't have strength enough to hold her head up on her own so she rested it against my shoulder.

"trust … you … d..don't … leave … please…" she whispered, I picked up my pace.

"I won't leave you, I promised you that already remember, pinky promise" she smiled as she remembered that. "you can't leave me either? You promised that too remember?"

"hmm … remember" I smiled down at her, you'll be fine Kagome, you'll survive you have to.

In less than a minute I stood in front of the house again, I entered and saw that the old woman was preparing all kinds of medical stuff. She spotted me.

"Lay her down" she pointed to a piled of soft cloths in the middle of the room, I did as she told. I did not need to tell her where the wound was located, she just followed the trail of blood. When she bared it I heard her hiss.

"How did she get this?" she looked at me accusingly, as if I inflicted those wound on her myself in a way that was true it was my fault Kagome was hurting, so I ignored the implication.

"I was not there when it happened, from what she told me I guess she got struck by an arrow somehow and pulled it out herself." I knew I once laughed that Kagome would rather hurt herself with her weapon than the demon she was fighting, now it isn't so funny at all.

"How long ago was this?" she poked around in the fire that burned next to her.

"Two days" I answered, I held Kagome's hand in mine and squeezed it, the faint squeeze I received back told me she was still conscious. The old woman just nodded and started to clean out the wound with a clean cloth, as I predicted the wound started to bleed again but the woman didn't stop until all of the dirt and filth was gone.

"I have to stop the bleeding, the girl has lost much blood and that is the main reason why she is so weak" I knew that. She poked again in the fire next to her.

"Hurry up will yah, the bleeding won't stop by looking at it!" I was getting impatient, the woman moved to slow for my liking. Don't make me regret bringing her in here, I'll tear this whole damned village apart!

She looked at me "yeh have to hold her down for a couple of moments and put this between her teeth so she doesn't bite off her tong" I did not like the sound of that. A growl involuntary trembled through my body.

"Why? What are you going to do?" I clutched her hand in mine protectively. The old woman showed me the piece of glowing metal that she used to poke into the fire.

"If I burn the wound the bleeding will stop and it will heal properly, it is painful but it will be over soon"

"NO!" I roared, I brought her here to make her better not to hurt her more, Kagome trusts me.

"Yeh said so yourself Hanyou, she is dying." I was torn, Kagome squeezed my hand and brought my attention back to her.

"… be … alright .. not … wwwweak … human" she whispered, I had no choice. I just know this moments will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Reluctantly I placed the leather band between her teeth and placed one hand on her shoulder and placed my knee on her hip, I refused to let go of her hand. I nodded to the old woman and watched the process. The moment she brought the glowing hot iron against her skin Kagome's body flinched and shook with pain, she whimpered though her cries where muffled by the leather.

It was the hardest thing I had to do in my life, watch Kagome burn because I was not strong enough, watch her suffer because I failed to protect her. The scent of her burned flesh and the sound of her screams were engraved in my memory forever.

It was over quickly as soon as the iron was gone I released her and pulled her into my arms, she sobbed a bit longer before passing out. I checked her breathing and heartbeat before freaking out.

"she is exhausted, let her rest" the woman placed a wet cloth on Kagome's forehead and started mixing all kinds of strange plants together.

"Will she be alright?" I asked.

"I believe she will, she is strong this little one" I nodded and took her hand back in mine. "can yeh hand me that box over there hanyou?"

"Here you go old hag" I handed her the stupid box, and I received an angry glance in return. True it was not the polite thing to say, but she could stop calling me hanyou too.

The woman just sighed "My name is Kaede, I'm the priestess of this village" she looked expectantly in my direction. What is it time for introductions now?

"Inuyasha, the strong little one is Kagome" I said reluctantly, normally I would not even begin to try being nice to a human but I don't need her kicking us out because of my lack of manners, not before Kagome is fully healed that is. She nodded and continued with her business.

"May I ask how she got these wounds?"

"I told you already, an arrow alright?"

"So yeh were attacked by bandits?" she guessed, ah come on.

"Snake youkai attacked us, three of them to be precise" I told her, stupid beings next time I'll … I'll do better.

"Snake youkai do not shoot arrows" she answered, no duh.

"I don't know either how precisely she got to hurt her with her own weapon, all I know was that I sliced up one of them, she killed the one that was choking me and the one that came after her. when I reached her I found her bleeding in a huge pile of snake youkai ashes"

"This girl? She has the power to slay demons with an arrow?" Kaede sounded surprised. Wasn't that the exact thing she intended to do when she found me in her cabin?

"yeah, why? You pointed a pink arrow at me too." I answered.

"I thought I sensed something familiar" she whispered.

"My turn! How did you know I was a half demon? And don't give that I sensed it crap!"

"I am a miko, I have to power to sense and purify demonic energy. The power that comes from yeh however does resembles that of a powerful demon but it has a human side to it too. Besides your features speak for themselves a full demon is either disguised as a human or in his demon form, hanyou's like yourself have resemblances of both, your ears are your most obvious proof of that. you are stuck in mid-transformation." I didn't thought of that, so my ears are part of my demon form huh? Should be glad I didn't get a tail.

"My arrow glows pink because it is purifying the demonic energy in the air it is called a sacred arrow. I'm sure that is what she used to slay those demons, it is a powerful skill few posses and even fewer know how to use" this was too much to take in.

"Miko, others called her that before what is it exactly?"

"A miko is a woman who possesses the power to purify, it is a very holy power and it is rarely found. Miko's are holy women, usually they live in shrines and perform all sorts of rituals and purification. But with the right training and potential, she can also posses the power to purify not only objects but beings as well, demons are filled with impure energy while they can use that to their advantage most of the time, it becomes their greatest weakness against a miko. For her to be able to purify as such a young age is quite remarkable, with the right training she could be one of the most powerful miko's ever seen."

"A miko? Isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that deserve respect?"

"Of course it does!"

"Then why did her villagers threat her like she was evil they called her a witch and abandoned her!" Kaede lowered her head and rubbed the lotion on Kagome's injured flesh.

"It happens, miko power is rare and so easily mistaken for demonic possession if one is ignorant. Those people probably only heard stories about miko's and had their share of demon attacks, they probably just did not understand. Ignorance can be a cruel thing, what one does not understand one easily fears." She explained.

Kagome a powerful demon slaying priestess, somehow that picture was hard to grasp. Then again, she did kill two demons already.

"A while before this my br… a demon attacked us, she burned his arm when he touched her."

"She purified the youki in that demon"

"Why doesn't it hurt when she touches me? I have demon power too!"

"The girl's powers are untrained when she burned that demons arm, it was probably because he was causing her harm. Sometimes miko powers are activated by our emotions that why it is important that we meditate and practice control over our emotions. If one is in state of distress her powers are intensified because of that and acts like a defense mechanism. Why yeh are not purified upon touch is the same reason yeh do not attack her with your powers. Her powers are her weapons she can defend herself with them, if yeh are not seeking to hurt her yeh have nothing to fear."

"Keh, she has been attacked by humans more than demons. At least I understand why demons attack, they are hungry and need food, it's nature. Humans on the other hand attack because they can."

We stared angrily at each other, she didn't like me, hell I didn't like her either. Once I'm sure Kagome can survive without the use of this stupid human, I run us both as far away from here as possible.

The old hag just finished up bandaging her and started putting away her medicine stuff, she kept an eye on me though, I don't care. If she tries something, I will kill her … powerful demon slaying priestess or not.

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A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait, if I had any excuse I would use it, but the truth is I am just too damn lazy, sorry

thank you reviewers! : callmeBaby'08' , manga-animelove , Sora7 , GoldenRose88 and viridianaln9

and of course the rest of you who read this story!


	12. Strength

**Strength.**

We have been in the village now for three days, Kagome spend most of her days resting. She only opened her eyes to swallow little bits of broth. She was getting better, the paleness was gone, her smell was clean again and her hair no longer clung to her face. The last few days were the most exhausting, infuriating and terrifying days of my entire life.

I could not sleep, every time she did anything but stir I would jump up but mostly because every time I closed my eyes I dreamed of my mother and Kagome the dreams always ended with those two pictures overlapping. So now I was the pale one.

Because of my lack of sleep I could feel that I became angrier, my patience with the priestess was wearing thin. I often found myself venting in the forest, I swear her little remarks were starting to get to me. She was a smart one that old bat, she insulted me without actually saying the words but acted like a complete angel when she was with Kagome. Probably because they were both miko's or because she took pity on her, but I couldn't help but wonder if she had another hidden motive. Sometimes it felt like she was trying to steal Kagome away from me, to put us up against each other.

I punched through a tree when I envisioned that, damn! No Kagome wouldn't do that, she couldn't! I walked away from the dying tree, what hurt the most was that Kagome had every right to leave my sorry ass. I failed to defend her, I was weak and she almost died because of that. But if she did leave me she would break her promise and she would be no better than the rest of the stinky humans.

Damn, I would have to hate her too, I'd have to be alone again. I clenched my hand so tight that my claws drenched themselves in my own blood. The smell of blood brought along more forbidden memories and I clawed at a boulder in order to scratch it's stupid shiny surface away with my 'iron reaver soul stealer' … Kagome and her give-everything-a-stupid-name-game!

But instead of the yellow clawmarks, out came red ones. Instead of simply scratching the stupid boulder they completely cut through it and went even further through the soil behind it. I stood there stunned like some idiot of my own attack, after a couple of minutes I closed my mouth and started to think rationally.

I did that? A new attack? But how? It could have been because I had been angry or … I lifted my hand that I used to attack the innocent rock … my blood? I tried it again and like before the attack was seemingly stronger than before … an evil smirk made its way across my face. Oh this could come in handy.

I had been long enough away from Kagome, it was time to go back. I washed the blood of my hands and made my way back to the village.I was outside the little hut and I heard Kagome's voice. I smiled involuntary and sped up.

"The half demon has been gone for some time now child, go back to sleep" I heard the old woman say, I stopped in my tracks and growled.

"I've slept enough, thank you. I'll just wait until INUYASHA returns!" Something stirred inside of me when she said that, ah take that old wench! She's on my side. That feeling quickly vanished though when I heard her hiss. She probably made a wrong move and hurt herself, stupid girl. I was about to enter the house and yell at her for being such a weak human but ...

"… Inuyasha told me what a miko is" I heard her say. Maybe I should give her, her privacy. Let her get some answers out of the old bat too. "… and that you are one too"

"Yes, yeh and I are both miko's and quite powerful ones if I say so myself" I heard the old priestess brag, huh, thinks she's all that much huh? Well I have an awesome new attack with her name on it.

"Me powerful? I didn't even realize I was a miko"

"Your power is a part of you Kagome, untrained yes but very powerful indeed" I jumped up in a nearby tree, I viewed the village while I listened to their conversation.

"So there is a way to make me better? To make me stronger?" I heard Kagome ask, yeah I still have trouble imagining her all powerful and all.

"Yes there is, I could train yeh, teach yeh everything I know" I could feel my left eye twitch a bit when I heard that.

"Really? You would do that?" what?

"Of course" I did not like where this conversation was headed. She could not be serious could she?

"How long does it take to be strong enough?" she asked. She's actually considering it?

"Being a miko means training your entire life, but to teach you all the basics you would need three winters" three … my heart stopped beating, would she actually chose to stay here? Humans weren't supposed to be travelling aimlessly with a dirty halfbreed after all … especially sacred, special humans like her. I would not stop her if she should chose this instead of me, but … I tried not to think about what would happen to me if that'd happen, I could already feel that ancient scar in my heart tearing apart again.

"wow, that's a long time" Kagome whispered after a long time of silence.

"yes it is, in order to master all those different levels of energy and purification only time, practice and talent is needed" IS it just me or does she sounds smug ? stupid old hag!

"yeah, I bet." I heard her shuffle around.

"You need your rest child, I'm sure the hanyou will come through that door any second now" the way she said that made me realize that she probably knew that I was out there listening, stupid old wench. Pissing me off, stealing Kagome away from me …

Reluctantly I walked inside, trying to stare down the old woman. But I saw that Kagome was already doing that for me, I smirked a bit at that.

"hey, feeling better wench?" I asked her, she smiled at me from her spot. She sat with her back against the wall. She still looked a bit pale and tired, but that foul unhealthy color had at least vanished and her hair no longer clung to her face. I was glad even if she did decide to leave me. The village maybe wouldn't have a problem accepting Kagome but I doubt they'd have the same opinion about me. As long as she's safe and happy, somehow that is more important than my own pain.

"yeah, I'm fine now, sorry for scaring you like that" she whispered.

"Don't apologize" I said and placed myself beside her. "You should go back to sleep, you still look tired" I decided not to mention to her that I overheard the conversation, Kagome doesn't like it very much when I'm being sneaky.

"I feel like all I do is sleep" she let her head rest on my shoulder and sighed deeply.

"Your body needs it's energy to heal properly"

"You should get some sleep too, you look like you haven't closed your eyes in ages"

"Yeah well, I just don't feel so comfortable around here" I whispered to her as I stared down the old woman, not that she was paying any attention to me. That only infuriated me more.

"Yeah I know what you mean, but we won't be here for much longer, I'll be up and about in a day or two" she startled me with that, didn't she just discuss with the old hag her staying here for trained for three winters?

"Don't force yourself too much" she had her eyes closed and seemed to be glad that I had returned, usually I would have pushed her out of my personal bubble … today however I'll make an exception.

" yeah, yeah, I just want to go back to travelling, being in a village again is kinda terrifying" this time I was the one to feel a little smug, the old priestess had conveniently gone outside already. Keh, I win!

"You're a miko now aren't you? They worship you now"

"Maybe, but I don't want to stay in a place any longer than necessary that doesn't treat my best friend with the respect he deserves" she looked up to me then, I saw the honesty and understanding in her eyes. Without saying it she told me that she knew about the silent war between me and the old priestess, the way I was suffering from the looks the villagers gave me and that she was on my side and she would remain there. Alright maybe I'm just wishful thinking but this warm feeling filled me, at least I knew she was my friend. I cleared my throat.

"If your health depends on it, yeah you kinda have to"

"We have to find a way to repay Kaede though, she did save me and gave us food and stuff." Did I hear a little anger in her voice? I smirked, she was right though, she did help us.

"yeah, yeah, I'll ask what she wants from us tomorrow alright?" I'll do whatever it is that wench wants from me in repayment, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

"Maybe I should do that" she laughed.

"Why?"

"Well don't get me wrong but you aren't the most tactful person out there" I kinda missed our little fights, I was about to engage her in another discussion, but she yawned loudly.

"Keh, go to sleep already" I nudged her, she snuggled into my shoulder to make herself more comfortable.

"yeah, yeah, stay with me for a while alright? It's weird when you aren't around" she mumbled, I wasn't even sure she was conscious enough to realize what she had said.

"Sure" I whispered back, and wrapped my arm around her small frame. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, confident that I would at least get a few hours of rest.

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A/N: I'm proud of myself I updated sooner then usual! Good for me ^^

Thank you reviewers! And readers !


	13. The Truth

**The truth**

Somehow that old wench convinced us to stay another week, she was determent to at least have Kagome learn how to properly shoot a sacred arrow. Kagome asked me if it was alright, but honestly what could I say? No? I don't what to stay here, come with me wandering aimlessly through the forest scavenging for food and leave behind the one place where you could be happy.

I heard something drop next to me, it was a little pink bal that got stuck in the leaves and twigs of the tree I was resting in. I looked down and saw a few kids looking up at it. They were probably playing too roughly. Ah damn, without even looking at it I thumped the tree, causing the ball to drop from the vibrations.

The kids picked up the ball and ran away with it, only one little boy was left. The others called out to him but he didn't come. I looked down, he was staring right at me. Oh come on, here we go …

"Thank you!" he said and bowed a little. That startled me a bit, I looked the other way. Weird kid. "Do you want to play with us?" he asked and held up the ball in emphasis. The other kids came closer to see what the commotion was about.

"Do you want to play with us?" he asked again. I jumped down and landed in front of them, causing the other children who were approaching to jump back a little, but the boy held his ground. I grinned a bit at him. Brave kid.

"You're really strong! Can you help me win? I always lose against them" He was about half of my size, a little human boy, probably around the age as me when I was left alone. I kinda remember those careless years, back then I didn't even care that I was hanyou, things were so simple back then.

"So? What do you say? Wanna play?"

"… sure, maybe a little while" I honestly don't know why I joined them in their game, sure technically I am still a kid but I think that I grew up already. I had too, a kid couldn't survive alone, so I couldn't be a kid anymore. Still that little boy that I forced back wanted nothing more than to join their game, so I did.

The other kids acted a little cautious at first, but once the game was started they got over it. I can't remember the last time that I've laughed so much, to be so carefree. I couldn't totally lose myself in the game though, I am part youkai and should I tackle them with half the strength I have I could seriously hurt them but still. Those few moments were I lost myself a bit in the wondrous fantasy world only a seven year old could dream up, where there are no troubles in the world but to win the game currently going on.

I was said when dusk started to fall and they had to return to their homes, their families. They had mommy's waiting for them. I returned to the hut were I left Kagome. She was sitting in a corner, her skin was glowing a little and her breathing a bit uneven, probably from all the exercises the old woman forced her to do today.

"Hey" she looked up and smiled when she saw me.

"Where were you? I haven't seen you all day"

"I was … kind a … playing" I admitted. She seemed a little surprised by my answer.

"Playing? With who?"

"The … kids from the village"

"That sounds, like fun, I hope you had a good time"

"nah, wasn't so bad. Why do you seem down? You know if the training is too hard we …"

"… no! I can do this!" she yelled.

"okay … no reason to shout"

"… sorry"

"wanna tell me what's bothering you?"

"nothings … well it isn't bad, it's just that … why is it so hard to make a sacred arrow?"

"That's all?"

"I'm a miko, no? So I should be able to do it, so why can't I do it right?"

"You can do it right! You were able to use it when you needed it, so I don't know why you're listening to HER"

"Well, I just want to be stronger, like you."

"Where is this coming from? Did SHE tell you that you weren't strong enough? You shouldn't compare yourself to others, just because she's saying that you aren't doing a good enough job doesn't mean that, it's true"

"But …"

"… no buts, you purified two demons, who cares if your arrow isn't shot perfectly by some stupid crone's standards, if it does the job than it is perfect for me" she smiled at me.

"thanks" arg, I didn't mean to give her a complement ! Stop smiling at me already.

"So what were you up to today?"she smiled.

"Err ... I kinda played"

"Played" she wasn't expecting that answer huh?

"Yeah, played, what of it"

"With who?" Ah, is that jealousy I detect there?

"Just a couple of the village kids"

"oh"

"It was kinda fun, but hurry up anyways I don't want to be stuck here any longer than ... "

"... what is it?"

"Sounds like trouble, come on" I knelt down so she could climb onto my back. "Hurry up will yah"

"Just a sec" she ran to get a bow and some arrows before following my silent order. As soon as my cargo was secured I took off. Not long after we left a crowd of angry people gathered in front of Kaede's cabin.

The old bat was back in her yard and came to see what all the commotion was about.

"What is the meaning of this"

"I'm sorry Kaede-sama, but we can't ignore this matter anymore"

"What is this matter yeh speak of?"

"The demon that you harbor inside! It has to go"

"On what accusations?"

"Accusations, are you actually going to wait until something happens before you kick him out?"

"You know he spend the day with our children today? Thank god that nothing happened."

"They might all be cursed! Bless my child please, Miko-sama"

"Chase off the demon"

"Our children! Think of our children"

"Get rid of it, girl and all"

"Come on, Inuyasha we don't need to hear more of this" it was Kagome who pulled my out of my frozen state. Just for a moment I forgot how the world worked.

"Yeah, lets go" and with that we turned our back to the village and disappeared into the forest, never to return again.

The world has shown it's ugly side again, it confronted us with the truth; that we were alone. Well if there is one thing that we have learned from this over the years, is that we are at least together in that, and that is all we will ever truly need.

* * *

Sorry, that it took so long for me to update, I apologize ! From here on it's going to go quite a bit faster, cause I've already written the next couple of chapters


	14. The wolf

**The wolf**

As the winters passes our bond grew stronger, she and I had been together for so long I could not imagine my life without her. And as our bond grew so did our strength we now didn't have to move quite as often, we could handle tougher youkai. She practiced every day with her bow and even though she didn't have any formal training these days she is a formidable foe. Though she does not have yet reached her full potential as a miko she knows enough to defend herself and occasionally me.

Though it is true that we have gotten closer, sometimes she can be a giant pain in the ass! Other times she worries the hell out of me, Kagome posses the amazing ability to find trouble whenever I turn my back on her. We still fight a lot, yeah haven't yet grown tired of pissing her off, but I guess she feels the same about me.

Right now we're wandering across the western lands, it was getting colder so we sought to cross the mountains into warmer climate for the winter. We have one hell of a climb ahead of us because we refuse to use the human trails. We prefer to deal with Youkai then with humans reason one humans are meaner then Youkai, true Youkai wanted to eat us but at least do that to survive so I could understand that somewhere, humans just enjoyed bringing pain to those who were different and reason two we could kill demons.

I had to smile at that, Kagome walked a head of me, she still had some Youkai goop in her hair from the water demon who thought it would be funny to spy on her while bathing. She had changed a lot over the years, she was growing more into a woman I guess.

"Inu look!" she yelled and pointed to the sky, I looked up and saw what appeared to be oversized birds, I concentrated on the smell.

"Yeah definitely Youkai, be on your guard" she nodded and clutched her bow tighter in her hand.

"Do you think we'll get across today or should we make camp around here?" when earlier I definitely caught the scent of the demon birds, but there was some other demon around too. The scent reminded me of dog but it had a more nastier, wilder side to it, I didn't want to come to any surprises at night, so …

"Nah, we'll make camp here, we'll never reach the other side with your weak human legs" I couldn't help.

"If you're looking for a fight you should have just said so, I need to practice with my aim anyway" she placed her hands in her sides and smirked.

"Keh, you couldn't hit me with that thing if I was standing right in front of you" I only said that because I knew she wouldn't call my bluff.

"Tsk, with an ego as big as yours even a blind person would hit you." I frowned and cracked my knuckles in warning even though I started the fight.

"Easy there doggy" she laughed, "Oh look a river I'm just going to wash up a bit, I feel like I'm still covered in water demon goop" she shuddered at the thought of.

"Oh that's what that stuff in your hair is, I was wondering earlier" she glared at me and reached in her hair to check if I was joking, she screamed a bit when she found the piece, yeah she's such a girl sometimes.

"You jerk, why didn't you tell me?" she yelled, she shook all over in disgust. "I'm going to take a long bath and if you even think about peeking you'll end up just like that demon!"

"Keh, don't flatter yourself" I didn't think she heard me, because she stormed off already. I smirked a bit, in my eyes I had won this match, knowing her she was thinking the same thing, which meant this was gonna start all over again later tonight.

A few hours later I noticed a strange scent drifting along with the wind, it was the stank I smelt earlier. There was something strange going on here it had me on edge the entire time, smelling demon all over the place was not an abnormal thing. Normally you get different numbers of all kind of youkai, but the scents that are dominating are just from two different types of youkai, the birds and something else. Even stranger there were a lot of both of them, as if they lived in packs. Even stranger there seemed to be an even amount of each.

It reminded me of the occasional human battlefield we came across or what was left of it anyways . Two even sides on either side of the terrain.

I started searching for dry wood, for the fire. I tripped over something, I growled in annoyance and looked down to see that my legs where intertwined with the bow. Damn girl left without her weapons?

I was weighing my options, Kagome was on her guard now, so no way I could simply drop them off, she wasn't helpless either she proved that fact earlier when she made the water demon say poof, but then again there is a lot of demon activity around and knowing Kagome's luck … I'll just wander around and watch the perimeter, just in case.

I followed her scent to the pond she was bathing in. I carefully retraced my steps, that was almost too close, luckily for me she hadn't spotted me so I kept at a safe distance hidden in the trees. To keep an eye out for any intruders.

Her long dark hair clung to her body when she resurfaced, her body was well toned due to all our battles and travels. She dipped her head back under and scrubbed ferociously at it. I had to bite my cheek in order not to laugh out loud, she had an obsession with keeping clean.

But then my laughter quickly disappeared when she turned, I now could see how much of a woman she had actually become. Damn, she's kinda pretty, no no no no that's Kagome you idiot, look away look away ! I could feel my face heat up.

The wind shifted slightly and carried the strange smell from before along, whatever it was it's close. Suddenly Kagome tensed and turned her back at me, she stared in the direction the scent came from. Something was very close and she knew it.

"Inuyasha?" she called carefully, I didn't think she actually believed it was me. I dropped myself soundlessly from the tree and stalked nearer to her, close enough to intervene if anything should go wrong far enough to avoid her wrath should it be false alarm. Though my instincts were telling me the latter wasn't the case.

She hid her naked body underneath the surface of the water. "whoever is there come out now, I warn you!" she yelled. Stupid girl, she's butt naked and she wants her attacker to come out?

"My, my, you sensed me did you? I must say I am impressed" a cocky voice came from the trees, in a flash a wolf demon appeared on the side of the pond, eyeing Kagome.

"What do you want demon? I warn you if you do not leave now I'll destroy you!" she tried her best to cover her body with her arms, I tore off a branch of the tree I was hiding behind how dare that mangy wolf.

"My my feisty aren't we?" the bastard grinned, I could almost literally see the water boil around her small form.

"I warn you one last time demon, go away or you'll be sorry" she sounded really dangerous now, I knew that tone all too well.

"I think I'll take my chances" he smirked and walked closer to her, I clutched my hand tight in a fist, two more steps closer and I'll rip him to shreds, I told myself.

He could only take one more, before he was blown away by Kagome's shield. Ha that threw him off guard, she ran to the shore to pick her clothes, but he was there before she could even reach them.

"That was unexpected, a miko huh, pretty powerful I must say" I didn't like the grin on his face while he eyed her, that was it.

I jumped out of my hiding place and released my attack on the demon.

"What the …?" he quickly avoided my attack by jumping to the side, he's fast I'll give him that much.

"Inuyasha? What the hell are you doing here?" she managed to sound outraged and relieved at the same time.

"Shut up, here's your stupid bow, go and put your clothes back on"

"Right" she was small enough to hide behind me and pull her kimono back on without the wolfdemon's wandering eyes all over her. "Ready" she stood next to me and pulled an arrow on her bow.

"You're a pretty one you know that?" the wolf taunted again, she let out a very youkai like roar and released the arrow, it flew straight to his head. This demon was fast, very fast and evaded it easily.

"Wow, sacred arrow huh, should be useful if you knew how to use them" he grinned, but kept a watchful eye on her arrows though.

"Hey, bastard, why don't you fight someone your own size" I yelled and clawed at him, the yellow clawmarks or as Kagome prefers to call it the iron reaver soul stealer, should have wounded him if he had not been able to outrun them, still I managed to nick him on the shoulder.

"Damn" he cursed

"That was for insulting Kagome, next I'll take off your head for watching her" I said and cracked my knuckles again.

"Bring it halfbreed" that did it, I pierced my skin and let out the blades of blood, he didn't expect them to come so fast and I managed to hit him right across the chest. He clutched his wound, though thanks to his now destroyed armor it was not fatal, damn.

Kagome edged closer and notched another arrow on her bow.

"If you wish not to be destroyed leave now and we will spare your life" she said, I've never seen her this angry before. I always got a kick out of it when she was angry

"Speak for yourself"

"Easy there girly, I just wanted to get a closer look, beauty is something I don't come across everyday" subconsciously I placed myself between Kagome and the wolf again, I started growling at him.

"Inuyasha you're blocking my view, I can't shoot him with you standing in front of me" I ignored her and refused to move, though I was glad she wanted to hurt him almost as bad as I wanted to.

"Yeah, mutt you're blocking the view, Kagome was it not? I'm Kouga leader of the wolf demon tribe, you will be seeing me soon" he winked and left. That stupid arrogant bastard, how dare he!

I was trembling all over in anger, the nerve to come here and … argg! I let out a roar out of pure frustration.

"We'll get him the next time" she placed her hand on my shoulder to calm me down, it helped a bit. "Now more importantly what the hell where you doing here so close?" oh great now she got to take her anger out on me? well two can play that game, I've got enough frustration for the both of us.

"Good thing I did, you stupid human, what were you thinking going swimming unarmed, that's two times today that you've been attacked while swimming! have you learned nothing over the years? I swear you're still the weak little girl I found in my cave !"

I let her push me back (cough, cough), and got into my face "And you're still the same insensitive bastard ! how dare you ! I told you not to spy on me, why do I ask you to do anything at all? You just ignore me all the time, I'm so sick of this!"

"Yeah? I'm getting sick of this too !"

"How can one person be so annoying?" she threw her arms out in frustration.

"Likewise wench !"

"Keh!" we're standing so close to each other that I can feel her angry breathing on my skin, it's funny though she's so tiny and little and so fierce at the same time. We stood there for about five minutes, trying to stare the other down, until one of us broke. This time it was me, I laughed her little angry huff did it, she soon followed. She was just too damn cute when she did that.

She laughed so hard she had to hold onto me for balance, we certainly were a strange pair. Our laughter slowed down and we watched each other again.

"Sorry, for yelling at you, it's not even you I'm mad at" she admitted, she was always the first to apologize.

"No problem" she learned to understand my silent apology though. But in return I could see that she was shivering and it was not because of the cold.

"What is the matter?" it sounded harsher than I intended but as I said she in a good translator.

"Nothing" she said to quietly and reserved, before turning away from me.

"Yeah I'm not buying that you know ?"no answer "Does this have to do with the demon?" again no answer, but I noticed that the shivering turned into trembling and there was a faint smell of salt in the air.

"Hey, nothing happened alright? And there's no way he's getting that close to you again" she nodded. I turned her around and frowned a bit at the little tears. Why was she reacting like this? We have defeated opponents more dangerous, ruthless, bigger and uglier than that before and she never showed any sign of fear, so why now?

"I'm sorry, it's just that his eyes scared me, I'll get over it." she spoke gently as if afraid she would cry if she was not careful.

"His eyes?" I tried to focus back on the fight, his eyes? He was in his human form so they were normal no? Why is she afraid, it does not matter though, next time I see him I'll rip him apart before he has a chance to look at her problem solved.

"I'll protect you, you know, I'll always protect you, I promise"

She shook her head and looked up to me, I was confused.

"Pinky promise?" I smiled at her I knew what she meant, she wanted the know if I really meant it. So I kissed my pinky and held it out for her to see. She twisted her own pinky around mine.

"Pinky promise" I whispered.


	15. Awkwardness

**Awkwardness.**

The next few days we're though, exhausting and uncomfortable ... very uncomfortable . I thought that it was due to the lack of sleep, being constantly on guard for a certain wolf demon and the horrible weather that she was so moody lately … boy was I wrong. I could sense it before she even realized what was happening.

Yeah she really is a woman now, Kagome had her first period. She screamed the entire forest together when she saw the blood between her legs, didn't her dad explain her what it meant? I knew a little from what my mom told me, I asked her, why once a month a women's scent would change. And it sorta comes natural to me … Youkai mate too.

Damn, that's probably why that damn wolfdemon got so close, a shiver trailed over my spine when I thought about how close he had gotten to Kagome and what his intentions were. The next time I see him I'm going to rip his head off.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome returned, she had taken another bath, I didn't mind she would allow me to stay closer now, she trusted me that I wouldn't peek and that I would protect her. I don't know why but I was really happy when she said that.

"Yeah?" I answered after a while.

"Nothing … did I do something? You look really mad" yeah, she got really emotional too, damn hormones, I want the old Kagome back.

"Keh, of course not …" she sat further away from me then usual and started the fire. She was embarrassed about all this, I didn't care hell it wasn't her fault she's a girl, it's just nature.

"How long do you think we have to go through this mountain pass?" she asked, we decided to travel across the mountains, since that was our first intention and we weren't going to let a stupid wolf youkai scare us, next time we will be prepared .

"I don't know a day or two maybe?" I leaned back against a large boulder and lifted my hands behind my head, she closed her eyes and concentrated on something. I know what she's doing, she's trying to sense if any demon is nearby. Her powers are strong but she doesn't know how to use them, sure she can fire off a sacred arrow and all, but all the rest was just pure instinctual, like a defense system or something.

I tried to get her to practice on me but, she doesn't want to, she's afraid, she'll accidentally purify me or something. Keh, as if I can be defeated by her, I knew it was a possibility of course I've seen what she could do but still. For some reason her being able to defend herself was very important for me.

"You know, the wolf demons are not on this side of the mountain, around here we just have to worry about those weird birds" she sighed and opened her eyes again. she finally got the fire started.

"I know, still better safe than sorry, you know, besides practicing isn't bad, I was trying to see how far I could sense something … I need a lot of practice" she pulled her knees up and rested her head on them.

"Yeah I know" I laughed, too late I realized my mistake.

"What do you mean, I know? You think I'm weak or something? Huh! Oh powerful lord Inuyasha" she jumped up and started yelling at me, one second she was depressed the next pissed as hell. Note to self getting Kagome angry during her period is NOT cute, it's scary as hell.

"Shut up, I didn't mean it like that, you're overreacting" then again I was never the guy to back down from a fight.

"You're so annoying ! you shut up" I jumped up and stepped closer to her, I glared at the steaming miko while I tried to intimidate her.

"Don't give me that look mister, you know I'm not scared of you" she started punching me on the chest, I grabbed her wrists and lifted her in the air, careful not to hurt her too much.

"I know you're not scared of me, just calm down and stop fuming will yah or do you want to cause an avalanche?" I tried to reason, I could almost hear her count to ten in her head. Her face went from red to her normal color, she closed her eyes until her breathing went back to normal, only then she did open them.

There we were fuming, pressed against each other, faces so close that I could feel her breath on my face. She turned red again. she never looked cuter then she does now, everything about her drives me crazy.

"Inuyasha" she whispered, my name sounds so good coming from her lips.

"Hmm"

"Could you please put me down now" she whispered again. What the hell am I doing? I dropped her and jumped away. She looked at me confused, her cheeks still flushed from the sudden closeness.

"Keh, you need to control your temper wench, I swear"

"Oh come on I can't help it, if you aren't such an insufferable companion I wouldn't need to get so mad all the time"

"Yeah, I can't wait until those stupid hormones of yours calm down!"

"Hey, do you hear me yelling at you when you have your monthly problems?"

"I don't have any …" "keh! That's something different"

"Like hell" she sat down with a huff and refused to speak. Yeah she never won that game, she was stubborn alright but if there was one thing Kagome couldn't do it was keeping quiet.

I was kinda thankful that she continued our battle as if nothing had happened, whatever happened anyways.

* * *

So sorry for the late update, no excuses this time, I'm just plain lazy !


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